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Causality, Free Will, and Divine Action Contents Organon F, Volume 26, 2019, Issue 1 Special Issue Causality, Free Will, and Divine Action Frederik Herzberg and Daniel von Wachter Guest Editors Contents Daniel von Wachter: Preface ......................................................................... 2 Research Articles Robert A. Larmer: The Many Inadequate Justifications of Methodological Naturalism .......................................................................................... 5 Richard Swinburne: The Implausibility of the Causal Closure of the Physical ............................................................................................. 25 Daniel von Wachter: The Principle of the Causal Openness of the Physical ............................................................................................. 40 Michael Esfeld: Why Determinism in Physics Has No Implications for Free Will ..................................................................................... 62 Ralf B. Bergmann: Does Divine Intervention Violate Laws of Nature? ....... 86 Uwe Meixner: Elements of a Theory of Nonphysical Agents in the Physical World ................................................................................ 104 Ansgar Beckermann: Active Doings and the Principle of the Causal Closure of the Physical World ......................................................... 122 Thomas Pink: Freedom, Power and Causation .......................................... 141 Discussion Notes Michael Esfeld: The Principle of Causal Completeness: Reply to Daniel von Wachter .................................................................................... 169 Daniel von Wachter: Do the Laws of Nature Entail Causal Closure? Response to Michael Esfeld ............................................................. 175 Organon F 26 (1) 2019: 2–4 ISSN 2585-7150 (online) https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2019.26101 ISSN 1335-0668 (print) Preface This issue of Organon F is dedi- Arguments of this kind, which as- cated to arguments from determinism sume that there is ‘no room’ for lib- or similar principles against libertar- ertarian free will or that it is impos- ian free will and against the existence sible, have been the main objection of divine interventions, such as mira- against libertarian free will especially cles. Such arguments have been very since the 19th century, and they still influential especially since the 19th are. In German-speaking philosophy, century, but they came up already in belief in determinism was promoted the 17th century. by Kant’s principle of causality: In Thomas Hobbes we find the ‘every event is determined by a cause first clear statement of the argument according to constant laws.’ (Prole- from determinism against libertarian gomena, § 15) A different version of free will. In his book Elements of Phi- the argument, inspired by David losophy of 1655 in the section De cor- Hume, gives up necessitation but re- pore, Hobbes reasons about what it fers only to laws that entail regulari- is for an event to come to occur and ties of succession of the type ‘All concludes that every event must be events of type x are followed by necessitated by antecedent events, events of type y.’ Many philosophers which is the doctrine that we call ‘de- find the idea charming that the laws terminism’ today. From this he de- of nature and the description of the rives that there cannot be libertarian state of the universe at one time to- free will: ‘That ordinary definition of gether entail descriptions of the state a free agent, namely, that a free of the universe at all other times. To- agent is that, which, when all things day the most widespread argument of are present which are needful to pro- this kind against libertarian free will duce the effect, can nevertheless not refers to the principle of the causal produce it, implies a contradiction, closure of the physical, which is in- and is nonsense.’ (Of Liberty and Ne- vestigated by several contributions to cessity, § 32) this issue. Hobbes and Kant held that © The Author. Journal compilation © The Editorial Board, Organon F. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attri- bution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Preface 3 the truth of determinism is known and whether there are divine inter- a priori, others claim that it is known ventions. We can then know the a posteriori, for example through con- truth about these issues without hav- servation laws. ing to investigate specific evidence These arguments against libertar- such as evidence for the resurrection ian free will are very similar to the of Jesus, evidence about brain events arguments that German theologians that have no event cause, or evidence put forward against the existence of from introspection. However, the divine interventions. The German question is whether determinism or theologian Ernst Troeltsch formu- some other principle from which we lated this in 1898 in the following can derive that there is no libertarian principle: ‘No change can occur at free will is true and whether we can one point without changes occurring know it. before and after at other points, so Robert Larmer investigates in his that all events stand in a continuous, contribution ‘methodological natu- correlative interconnection and must ralism’, i.e. the claim that scientists necessarily constitute a single flow in should always posit a natural cause which each and all hang together, for any event that takes place in the and every event stands in relation to natural world. Richard Swinburne ar- others.’ The US American theologian gues that the principle of causal clo- Langdon Gilkey wrote in 1961: ‘Con- sure is self-defeating: no one could temporary theology does not expect, ever be justified in believing it. Dan- nor does it speak of, wondrous divine iel von Wachter defends a ‘principle events on the surface of natural and of causal openness of the physical’ historical life. The causal nexus in that is contrary to the principle of space and time which the Enlighten- causal closure. In a discussion note ment science and philosophy intro- Michael Esfeld objects to Wachter duced into the Western mind is also that the principle of causal closure is assumed by modern theologians and best understood as a non-modal prin- scholars.’ By ‘causal nexus’ appar- ciple and that it can be known ently he means determinism. through the laws of nature. Wachter If such arguments against liber- responds by distinguishing laws of tarian free will or against divine in- nature from the differential equations terventions are successful, then they that can be derived from laws. In his are an effective and quick way of article Esfeld explains why physical knowing something as important as theories with deterministic dynam- whether we have libertarian free will ical equations are to be preferred, but Organon F 26 (1) 2019: 2–4 4 Preface then argues that the parameters in And Thomas Pink investigates the equations do not refer to proper- whether freedom can exist as a form ties of the physical systems and that of power. therefore there is no conflict between The contributors to this issue determinism in physics and free will. started their discussion on the topic Ralf Bergmann investigates causal at a conference that took place on networks from the point of view of 13–15 September 2017 in Vienna and physics and argues that divine inter- that was a part of the project ‘The ventions would not violate the laws Openness of the Universe for Free of nature. Uwe Meixner relates free Will and Special Divine Action,’ gen- will to quantum physics and devel- erously funded by the John Temple- ops the idea of a nonphysical organ ton Foundation. of higher organisms. Ansgar Becker- mann discusses arguments for dual- Daniel von Wachter ism based on introspection and raises International Academy of Philosophy objections against agent causation. in the Principality of Liechtenstein Organon F 26 (1) 2019: 2–4 Organon F 26 (1) 2019: 5–24 ISSN 2585-7150 (online) https://doi.org/10.31577/orgf.2019.26102 ISSN 1335-0668 (print) RESEARCH ARTICLE The Many Inadequate Justifications of Methodological Naturalism Robert A. Larmer* Received: 24 May 2018 / Accepted: 4 September 2018 Abstract: Contrary to proponents’ claims, methodological naturalism is not metaphysically neutral. Consequently, its acceptance as a prac- tice requires justification. Unfortunately for its advocates, attempts to justify it are failures. It cannot be defended as a definition, or a self-imposed limitation, of science, nor, more modestly, as an in- ductively justified commitment to natural causes. As a practice, it functions not to further scientific investigation, but rather to impose an explanatory straitjacket. Keywords: Ad hominem fallacy; nomological science; historical sci- ence; supernatural agency; inductive generalization; Robert Pen- nock. 1. Introduction In 1983, Paul de Vries, a philosophy professor at Wheaton, a conserva- tive Christian liberal arts college, advocated the practice of what he termed ‘methodological naturalism’ in relating scientific and religious * University of New Brunswick Department of Philosophy, University of New Brunswick, 19 Macaulay Lane, Carleton Hall 211, Fredericton NB, E3B 5A3, Canada [email protected] © The Author. Journal compilation © The Editorial Board, Organon F. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attri- bution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Public License (CC BY-NC 4.0). 6 Robert A. Larmer beliefs.1 His claim was that, as a matter
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