Decision and the Freedom of Subsequent Action

Randolph Clarke
Georgia State University

Action is typically, if not always, preceded by a present-directed intention, and many actions are preceded by future- directed intentions. Call freedom in acquiring either sort of intention "freedom of the will." How is freedom of the will related to freedom in performing willed actions? A strong tradition locates the source of practical freedom in the will, holding that freedom in acting as one wills depends upon and derives from freedom in so willing. This tradition is particularly strong among libertarians, and some features of decisions and the intentions formed in decision-making have been emphasized in recommending such a "willist" view of freedom to libertarians. I argue in this paper that libertarians should and can resist such a view. Libertarians can accommodate the emphasized features of decisions within a view on which both freedom in deciding and freedom in acting as decided may be independently and underivedly free.