ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to examine David Hodgson’s view that plausible reasoning is a ground for accepting the libertarian conception of free will. It argues that Hodgson’s work has nevertheless provided an important insight into the nature of rationality. The chapter explores how one may describe plausible reasoning as successful in Hodgson’s sense and also argues that all activities involving the accumulation of reasonable beliefs or knowledge must be understood as practices operating through time with a history, and evolving in a fashion akin to natural selection. Hodgson’s primary contention as to why plausible reasoning is successful and yet informal lies with his argument that it utilizes a capacity of conscious minds which is indeterministic but allows people to respond appositely when engaged in decision-making. Hodgson found that the finding of remorse should also be discounted through the respondent’s failure to give oral evidence, or make any form of reparation to the victim.
