An Argument against Libertarian Free Will

Ain't no time like the present

Note: I recommend reading the comments! There’s good conversation about possible objections. Some thoughts on where this argument is vulnerable are:

• It’s susceptible to a Moorean Shift.

• Premise 3 is a weak point, and likely to be denied by a Libertarian.

• The argument is similar to Xeno’s paradox, and may fail for similar reasons.

I may try to rewrite a version of this I think is more air tight at some point - so let me know other ways you’d attack it below.

I think I have a novel argument against Libertarianism. At least, I haven’t seen anyone else say it - so, I thought it’d be fun to throw the shit on the wall and see if it sticks. First, as always, it’s worth defining terms.

Libertarianism is an Incompatibilist view in free will, meaning they think that free will is incompatible with Determinism. Where they differ from Free will Skeptics, however, is instead of accepting Determinism and rejecting free will, they accept free will and reject Determinism. That is, they think that moral responsibility requires the ability to have acted otherwise, but we do in fact have that ability! If you read all that and didn’t follow because it was jargon heavy, I have a helpful “lay of the land” of free will in another article here. Here’s a handy diagram that maps out the available views.

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“Y’know, I’m something of an artist myself”

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So, there’s two ways to attack Libertarianism. One is to attack the premise that free will is incompatible with Determinism, the other is to attack their rejection of Determinism. This article will do the latter instead of the former. It’s specifically an argument against Libertarianism, rather than an argument against free will per se (we may still have free will if Compatibilism is true).

The Argument

Here’s the basic structure of the argument. Of course, I’ll elaborate and back up each premise.

1. We’re unable to change the present moment.

2. The present moment is the only moment from which we can act.

3. If we’re unable to change the present moment, and it is the only moment from which we can act, then we are unable to have acted otherwise.

4. Therefore we are unable to have acted otherwise.

5. If we’re unable to have acted otherwise, then Libertarianism is false.

6. Therefore, Libertarianism is false.

So, your first thought reading that is probably “Why think that you can’t change the present moment? That’s insane, Connor. Go dig a hole and sit in it until you come back to reality”. Well, I think that when you pay attention, it not only seems true, but seems like it must be true.

The present moment is an infinitesimally small moment in time - here’s George Carlin to explain. The reason you can’t change the present moment is because change takes time. That is, in order for you to change what’s happening at T1, you need to do something, but by the time you’ve done it, you’re at T2. To bring about any change to T1 from T1 would require that you freeze time - but I take it that no one can do that (Unless Hiro Nakamura is reading this).

In any given moment, things are just happening. Seriously, try it now. You might think “Sure I can change the present moment, I can raise my hand like this” - but the moment where your hand is raised is a different moment to the one where is wasn’t. The moment where you hand wasn’t raised has been and gone, and you failed to change it.

So, you can’t change the present. I take it that 2 is trivially true because I’m not sure what it even means to act from the future or past. 3 is true because if you can’t change the present moment, you’re compelled to be doing whatever it is you happen to be doing in it - which means there’s only one possibility for your actions. The rest just follows for obvious reasons.

I think this zeroes in on why I think Libertarianism is incoherent. I’m not even sure how it could be possible for us to have acted otherwise. When I pay attention to my conscious experience, it feels more like a cascade of happenings than anything else. Walk here. Pick up that. Think this. Bench 400kg. I feel like a silent witness to my life when I pay attention. There’s just a bit of an illusion of Libertarianism when I don’t.

Anyway, if you want to take a crack at it, let me know which premise you think fails and why!