CHAPTER IV 

 NATURAL FREEDOM 



In popular usage the word "free" is 

 employed in two quite different senses 

 which are often confused. These will here 

 be termed natural freedom and mystical 

 freedom. 



By mystical freedom is meant the belief 

 that in human conduct there are acts which 

 are absolutely self-determined independ- 

 ently of natural causal sequences. There 

 seems to be such an implication in the use 

 by some people of the expression "a free 

 choice" or "a free agent." Such a belief, 

 in so far as it implies uncaused action, 

 cannot be admitted in a naturalisitc argu- 

 ment. We, therefore, have no further 

 concern with mystical freedom in this dis- 

 cussion. 



In scientific usage, as in common life, 

 the word "free" is generally used to de- 

 scribe a variety of natural processes which 

 are carried through in orderly or lawful 

 ways, as a freely flowing stream, "free 

 air" at a garage, the free course of a rifle 

 bullet, a freely twining vine, the free flight 



[50] 



