392 INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 



(2) Human freedom, (a) The data in this problem are 

 any facts relevant to the existence or non-existence of 

 causal connections in nature. Presumably the most signifi- 

 cant data would be found in the realm of the humanistic 

 sciences themselves. But the value of such data is decreased 

 by the double fact that they are incapable of any precise 

 formulation and they are hopelessly entangled with intro- 

 spective phenomena such as the "feeling of freedom," or 

 the "feeling of causal efficacy"; consequently, in the fields 

 of the humanistic sciences themselves the problem seems 

 insoluble. Recent approaches to the problem have en- 

 deavored to solve it in terms of data drawn almost exclu- 

 sively from the realm of physical events. Here, at least, 

 precision is possible. Unfortunately the problem is com- 

 plicated by the fact that the data, even in this field where a 

 maximum clarity can be achieved, do not speak unambig- 

 uously. Reference has already been made to the fact that 

 the greatest disagreement exists among the physical scien- 

 tists themselves on the question as to whether even the 

 physical world is a deterministic scheme. The data revealed 

 by quantum physics suggest that it is not; macroscopic 

 data, on the other hand, suggest that it is. Consequently 

 one's inference as to whether human freedom is or is not a 

 fact is determined bv his answer to this still more basic 

 question. (6) The actual inference is, of course, merely 

 probable, since it is based upon the legitimacy of inferring 

 from what is true in the physical world to conditions in the 

 realm of human behavior. If man is a part of nature the 

 inference becomes deductive, for what is true of natural 

 objects in general must be true of man as a specific kind of 

 natural object. But if man is something superadded to 

 nature the inference becomes analogical and inductive, for 

 man may be an exception to natural objects and exhibit 

 properties peculiar to himself, (c) The inferred fact is, at 

 least in the present case, human freedom, though the alter- 

 native position of human determination is equally a solu- 

 tion to the general problem. The assertion of human freedom 



