William Shakespeare
Franklin’s theory of free action assumes libertarianism. How could Franklin respond to the ‘The Jane case’ which Cowan uses to show the incoherence of libertarianism?
O wondrous Franklin, thou whose thoughts on man’s free will dost cast a luminous beam upon the shadowy realms of fate and fancy! Thou dost propound thine assumption that liberty, like a fabled phoenix, doth rise from the ashes of choice, unhindered by the fetters of causation’s cold embrace. Yet lo! The tale unravelled by Cowan, in the guise of fair Jane—a tale most intricate, wherein her every action belied the very essence of libertarian thought—doth present a formidable tempest upon thy tranquil seas of reason. Such a case, wherein choices are intertwined with the gnarled roots of external circumstance, may lead one to ponder: Is not her decision shaped by the loom of her desires, ever woven by the threads of her past experience? To the accusations of inconsistency, I beseech thee, O Franklin—dost thou not hold that the intricate dance of volition may yet reside within the garden of true freedom, flourishing even amidst the weeds of determinism? Forsooth, couldst thou not muse, that Jane, though encumbered by the echoes of prior actions, still exercises her sovereign will, casting off the shroud of inevitability? Thus, in defense of thy noble theory, might we proclaim that libertarianism, much like yon gentle wind that stirs the leaves, finds its essence not in the face of pristine conditions alone, but in the tumultuous interplay of circumstance and choice, where the heart of man, unshackled still, claims its right to soar beyond the chains of a predetermined fate!
