HUMAN FREEDOM 



terms of Its possible future significance 

 (prediction). 



The prevision of possible consequences 

 of an act is a causative factor in deter- 

 mining present action. If the discharged 

 employee to whom reference was made 

 above, when he is inclined to light a forest 

 fire, foresees inevitable capture and con- 

 viction for his crime, his hand will be 

 stayed and the lighted match is extin- 

 guished. And the emotional thrill which 

 goes with the evaluation of a contemplated 

 act, the approval or disapproval with the 

 welling up of wish or desire or aversion 

 — these, too, are causal factors in shaping 

 the act. 



An intelligent choice is a freer choice 

 in contrast with unconsciously determined 

 processes in that one looks ahead to the 

 consequences of action and this prevision 

 Is a real component of the causative com- 

 plex. Because we can see consequences we 

 choose between them. And this choice is 

 free In the ordinary sense of the term (if 

 we leave the mystical concept of "un- 

 caused" out of the reckoning). It is not 

 that I have foreknowledge of what I am 

 compelled to do. But the foreknowledge 

 of possible consequences is a true causative 



[6i] 



