Yemima Ben-Menahem

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Lawlessness and (a kind of) Freedom

24 May 2019, 16:00

Faculdade de Letras de Lisboa

Sala Mattos Romão (Departamento de Filosofia)

Abstract: The literature on freedom recognizes two different (and mutually exclusive) understandings of freedom—libertarian freedom and compatibilism. This paper offers a third option—lawlessness. It discusses three forms of lawlessness, all of which are compatible with determinism. The first concerns the irreducibility, within science, of higher level concepts to the level of fundamental physics. The second stems from the Kolmogorov-Chitin redefinition of randomness. The third is a variation on Davidson’s anomalous monism. As a result, the paper suggests a new kind of freedom—freedom from the law—which differs from libertarian freedom but is superior to compatibilism.