Determinism, from a philosophical standpoint, is the theory or belief that everything that takes place in the end is determined by forces that are outside of the will, meaning that everything that happens. In this paper, I will be addressing d’Holbach’s argument for his understanding of determinism, as well as Hume’s qualms with his conclusion in regard to the free agency of humans and why it is that I tend to side with d’Holbach and his doctrine.
When it comes to determinism in regard to free will, d’Holbach provides us with what appears to be a very straightforward argument. He starts off with the premises that the will is determined to act on whichever desire of ours is the strongest and that we have no say, no choice, over what it is that our desires are. It is because of these two points that d’Holbach comes to the conclusion that due to these premises, we do not have full control of our actions, therefore the free will that we as humans perceive ourselves as having is just an illusion. He states, “that man should have free agency it were needful that he should be able to will or choose without motive, or that he could prevent motives coercing his will” (d’Holbach, 5). If we were truly free agents, we would be able to move ourselves by ourselves without need for any other cause or desire infringing upon our will. One example that shows this very well is the situation of the man who suddenly experiences extreme thirst. Upon realizing his desire for water he will do his best to find a source to drink from. However, if when he finds this water he finds out that the water is poisoned, he will form a new desire, stronger than the original, to not drink this water that he previously so desperately needed and stay alive. This supports d’Holbach’s point that we are not actually free, despite the fact that we are capable of choosing to satisfy one or the other desire, because we are still going to rely on impulse to decide our will for us and to decide which we deem as stronger than the other, and our will is decided by causes that are independent of ourselves. Essentially saying that just because we are able to decide between one thing or another means nothing in regard to the status of our “freedom”, because we as humans are still a slave to our desires and are incapable of making decisions or taking actions without them. In this example, the winning, or strongest, desire would be the desire to preserve his own life by not drinking the poisoned water rather than quenching his terrible thirst. “Choice by no means proves the free agency of man: he only deliberates when he does not yet know which to choose of the many objects that move him; he is then in an embarrassment, which does not terminate until his will is decided by the greater advantage he believes he shall find in the object he chooses, or the action he undertakes” (d’Holbach, 5).
However, despite all of the claims and supporting reasons for this opinion that d’Holbach has in regard to determinism and freedom, not everyone who prescribes to this doctrine entirely agrees with him or his conclusion. The example that I believe stands out the most is in the case of the philosopher Hume, who agrees with d’Holbach all the way up until his conclusion of whether or not humans have free agency, due to the fact that Hume understands freedom as meaning something different. In Hume’s eyes, freedom means having the power of either acting or not acting according to the determinations of the will. This means that despite the fact that our will does prioritize certain actions over others, the fact that we are able to choose between the options that our will has presented to us makes us free. We would not be free, however, in Hume’s eyes if we had no control over which actions we took, regardless of our desires, much like how animals behave. This also gives us a sense of moral responsibility when performing our actions. This moral responsibility that we have also adds another dimension to this argument, because we have the freedom to either partake in this responsibility or to go against it, based on how our desires orient our actions. We as humans do not rely on our instincts to decide our actions for us, rather we are able to deliberate and choose for ourselves based on which desire we would like to satisfy. Hume acknowledges that it is, in certain situations, possible for a human to have limited freedom, in the case of the prisoner, where despite his best efforts and his desires he will not be able to escape the prison or the routine of it, however he is able to think about it even though nothing will come from it. Whereas when it comes to the rest of humanity, we are able to deliberate and then act in according with our will and whatever desires come with it, ending with deciding whichever desire we feel the strongest about. This, the ability to think and then choose, in the eyes of Hume, is what grants humans our free agency.
When taking both of these arguments for determinism into consideration, particularly the part that addresses the status of our free agency as humans, I agree with d’Holbach and his conclusion. I do not believe that man will ever be truly free, or have the qualities of true free agency, as long as we are slave to our desires, which are something that we have no control over. We may feel as though we are completely free to do whatever we want, however that is simply not the case in my opinion, despite Hume’s counterargument that as long as we are able to choose to do one thing over the other that makes us free. Our status as agents does offer us choice and the ability to make decisions through deliberation, and to an extent we do have the “freedom” to decide which desire is the most beneficial or the least detrimental. Although, in my opinion, to be wholly and truly free, we as humans must first be able to act on our own, by ourselves, without the weight of our desires toppling us towards one of the many directions we are able to go. As I stated before, this does not mean that we do not experience some aspects of freedom in our life and our decisions, as we are able to decide which desire we believe to be the strongest and then act on it, however, due to the fact that, much like our birth, we have no control over what it is that our desires are, we are not truly free.