Freewill as absurdity for Belsham, not Grice

By JLS
for the GC

Thomas Belsham (1750-1829) was an English philosopher, discussed by J. Harris in his monumental "Liberty and necessity: the free will debate in eighteenth-century British philosophy" (Oxford, 2005). His "Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind (1801) is entirely based on Hartley's psychology. His brother coined the expression 'libertarian'.

The chapter IX is entitled,

"Of the will: discussion of the doctrines of liberty and necessity"

Section 1: the question stated.

Section 2. Arguments in favour of philosophical liberty

Section 3: Doctrine of necessity: argument from consciousness.

Section 4: Argument from cause and effect

Section 5: Objections against philosophical liberty
1. Free-will an absurdity.
2. Liberty of little use
3. Confounds the distinction between virtue and vice
4. Dangerous to virtue

Section 6. Objections continued
5. Philosophical liberty inconsistent with moral discipline
6. Inconsistent with divine prescience
7. Leads to atheism
8. Inconsistent with moral perfection, both in God and his creatures

Section 7: objections against philosophical necessity stated and answered.

Section 8. Objections continued

Section 9. Recapitulation

Section 10. Beneficial consequences of the doctrine of necessity



His "Elements" available online:



http://books.google.com/books?id=GwUsAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=%22Philosophy+of+the+Human+mind%22+Belsham&source=bl&ots=ATZORlXdVj&sig=7e3WQgQKOOWYDlbshPoSpCbQV1U&hl=en&ei=j92rTeHXDubf0QHfyKn5CA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false