Conscious Human Action 5PART I : THEORY
The Knowledge of FreedomCHAPTER 1
CONSCIOUS HUMAN ACTION
Is a human being spirituallyfree, or subject to the iron
necessity of purely natural law? Few questions have ex-
cited so much ingenuity. The idea of the freedom of hu-
man will has found both sanguine supporters and stiff-
necked opponents in plenty. There are those who, in their
moral zeal, cast aspersions on the intellect of anyone
who can deny so obvious afact as freedom. They are op-
posed by others who see the acme of unscientific think-
ing in the belief that the lawfulness of nature fails to
apply to the area of human action and thinking. One and
the same thing is explained equally often as the most pre-
cious possession of humankind and as its worst illusion.
Infinite subtlety has been expended to explain how hu-
man freedom is consistent with the workings of nature of
which, after all, human beings are also a part. No less ef-
fort has gone into the attempt from the other side to ex-
plain how such a delusion could ever have arisen. All but
the most superficial thinkers feel that we have to do here
with one of the most important questions of life, religion,