Libertarianism is an Incompatibilist theory which has the belief that we have free will and we have the power to shape the future. Libertarians believe that the future is open and that we have the power to shape said future as we have agent causation power. We have actions that are not subject to causal determinism as agents can act without prior events necessitating the agent's action. The agent can act spontaneously to cause action and, thereby, a repercussion. Nothing causes agent causation as agent causation power is generated by our will. Because of this, even if two people have the exact same pasts and upbringing, they will have different future acts as they create their future. This theory rejects determinism as it brings about the idea that we are the causal originators of our actions so we are morally responsible for these actions. An example which embodies this theory is if some God-like entity were to create the physical universe, we can claim two things: (1) the creation of the universe is caused by his/her action and (2) the action is not causally determined by prior events as he/she caused the action on his/her own volition.
Although Libertarianism is very palatable to the general person as it is completely based on having free will, it is ultimately flawed. Libertarianism states that we are the causal originators of all of our actions as our actions are not influenced by anything else (eg. past/family/genetics) so we are held responsible for our actions but this is infeasible as certain events undermine freedom and free will because we cannot act otherwise in these events. For example, someone may suffer from depression due to neuro-chemical imbalances in the brain (they are determined by biology) but Libertarians would argue that they are acting depressed on their own volition. This person may be unable to get out of bed because of their condition but Libertarians would say that this is of their own doing – how is this a fair application of this theory to life? There are elements of life that we cannot control. In addition to this, there are more elements of infeasibility that Libertarianism brings to the table: this theory creates two new metaphysical entities (ie. agents and agent causation) so there is already debate over whether these two entities can exist metaphysically in the world; this theory also seems too idealistic in terms of how Libertarian actions are essentially “miracles”. A Miracle is defined as an event which does not fit within standard frameworks, it’s an event that seems so out of the blue and it doesn’t follow the fixed framework of life. Libertarian actions are sporadic events that occur out of the blue and don’t fit rational frameworks or causation frameworks, it’s essentially the same as a miracle. How can we live life not only blamed for actions that we have no control over but also by acting in a way that is so random that our actions are deemed miracles?
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