Humean Libertarianism : Outline of a Revisionist Account of the Joint Problem of Free Will, Determinism and Laws of Nature

What does it mean for an agent to be free? Is determinism true? What are laws of nature? This book deals with the interconnections between these questions. Backmann argues for the view that libertarianism can be reconciled with determinism. In order to reach this goal, libertarianism - classically defined as an incompatibilist theory of free will - is defined as the thesis that at the time of decision, the agent must be able to choose between alternative courses of action. Backmann claims that this notion of libertarianism can be reconciled with determinism provided that determinism is understood in a Humean fashion, i.e. backed by a Humean theory of laws of nature. The resulting view - Humean Libertarianism - is an intermediate position between classical compatibilism and incompatibilism.

Marius Backmann, University of Münster, Germany.