ABSTRACT
The modern philosophical debate about the freedom of the will, which seems to have begun by an exchange between Hobbes and Bishop Bramhall, has long since degenerated into a dialogue of the deaf; and nothing is to be gained by joining it. Unfortunately, the freedom of choice as commonly understood is sometimes defended, not as a presupposition in terms of which human action is conceived in our inherited culture, but as something that can be known by experience. The traditional Aristotelian theory of action, as developed in the Middle Ages, was an attempt to elucidate, refine and enlarge that body. And that theory has, in turn, contributed much to the way in which action is described in modern everyday speech, not least by introducing the word 'intend' and its cognates. An acceptable philosophical theory of action must be consistent with what it is reasonable to believe about human beings' power to choose to act.
