Kane on Free Will and Indeterminism

Robert Allen

= Complete Essay =

There exists a consensus amongst free will theorists that an agent can act freely without having alternatives at the time at which she acts. Frankfurt cases have secured this result. It is less clear that a free agent need not have had alternatives at some time or other in her life. Could someone be acting freely even though none of her past actions were avoidable, so that she could have done nothing to keep from committing her present act? Robert Kane does not think so and, thus, argues that free agency entails indeterminism.

In this paper, I examine Kane's response to the objection that indeterminism makes for "lucky," inexplicable actions rather than free agency. By posing dilemmas, I challenge his claim to have met the alternative possibilities and plural rationality requirements of libertarian free agency.