W.James'Defence of Free Will: A Step Toward a Paradigm Shift

A prominent feature of von Wright theory of action is the study of logical grammar of determinism. Its general outcome is the emancipation of the discussion about human freedom from traditional epistemological and ontological approaches. I intend to show that William James’s defence of free will reflects a similar aspect, notwithstanding the different theoretical and methodological frameworks of his own and von Wright’s thought. In particular, I will point out that James’s discussion of that topic is, on the one hand, an application of his anti-objectivistic representation of rationality and, on the other hand, a consequence of his refusal to reduce psychology to physiology. My contention is that indeterminism is a precondition of the Jamesian experimental/pragmatic conception of both ethics and our knowledge of the physical world.