Abstract:
I show in this paper that Schopenhauer and Bergson, although approaching the problem of free action from opposed philosophical standpoints, agree in characterizing human actions in a way which is neither determinist nor compatible with the liberum arbitrium thesis. Schopenhauer, although mistakenly trying to demonstrate the necessity of such actions, is obliged to recognize then as grundlos and unpredictable. Bergson, although intending to show such actions as free, in the end admits that they are not a matter of a reasonable choice. It is this unexpected agreement between both philosophers on the problem of the freedom of human action that will be explored in this paper.
Keywords:
Schopenhauer; Bergson; Freedom; Determinism; Choice; Prediction