304 HUMANISM xvi 



expectation, or of suggesting alternatives, what reason is 

 there why the admission of a certain flavour of Freedom, 

 of a certain degree of indetermination, should seriously 

 interfere with our actual practices of calculation ? Con 

 sider e.g. the case of human action. There is no practical 

 difference in the way we regard it, despite the tremendous 

 contrast of our theories. As it is, both Determinists and 

 Libertarians are fully aware that they hardly ever know 

 the character and circumstances of their fellow-men well 

 enough to make sure of foreseeing their exact behaviour. 

 Both agree also that it would be preposterous on this 

 account to regard human actions as utterly incalculable. 

 Both parties are agreed that whether there is freedom in 

 human action or not, human action is more or less 

 calculable ; both parties hold that it presents to our 

 knowledge a finite number of alternatives and a limited 

 extent of possibilities. And both parties are fully 

 entitled by their theories to come to this practical agree 

 ment. Which is of course the reason why both parties 

 can live together sensibly in society. 



The Libertarian, however, would be disposed to declare 

 the whole inconvenience an imaginary bugbear of the 

 opposing theory. For he would deny the necessity of 

 conceiving free acts as quite incalculable. He would 

 claim that his theory also was fully competent to satisfy 

 the practical and the scientific demands for a foreseeing 

 of events, even though it was bound to reject the meta 

 physical theory into which they had been perverted. 



For why after all, he might urge, should Freedom be 

 conceived as an infinite and uncontrollable force which is 

 radically disruptive of all rationality and order in the 

 universe ? Because certain philosophers desire to conceive 

 iit so for controversial purposes? Because Determinists 

 cannot bear to be deprived of a bogey which forms their 

 sole argument against Freedom ? Why should what he 

 believes to be the truth be sacrificed to the interests of a 

 philosophic party ? How thoroughly characteristic of a 

 certain type of philosopher ! Your philosopher is a most 

 exacting creature. If you give him an inch, he at once 



