{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,23]],"date-time":"2025-09-23T13:34:18Z","timestamp":1758634458772,"version":"3.37.3"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,9]],"date-time":"2020-06-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1591660800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,9]],"date-time":"2020-06-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1591660800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003130","name":"Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["G0B8616N"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["G0B8616N"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003130","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Synthese"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>Human freedom is in tension with nomological determinism and with statistical determinism. The goal of this paper is to answer both challenges. Four contributions are made to the free-will debate. First, we propose a classification of scientific theories based on how much freedom they allow. We take into account that indeterminism comes in different degrees and that both the laws and the auxiliary conditions can place constraints. A scientific worldview pulls towards one end of this classification, while libertarianism pulls towards the other end of the spectrum. Second, inspired by Hoefer, we argue that an interval of auxiliary conditions corresponds to a region in phase space, and to a bundle of possible block universes. We thus make room for a form of non-nomological indeterminism. Third, we combine crucial elements from the works of Hoefer and List; we attempt to give a libertarian reading of this combination. On our proposal, throughout spacetime, there is a certain amount of freedom (equivalent to setting the initial, intermediate, or final conditions) that can be interpreted as the result of agential choices. Fourth, we focus on the principle of alternative possibilities throughout and propose three ways of strengthening it.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s11229-020-02714-z","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,9]],"date-time":"2020-06-09T15:03:33Z","timestamp":1591715013000},"page":"10207-10235","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Degrees of freedom"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"198","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3080-6374","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pieter","family":"Thyssen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Sylvia","family":"Wenmackers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"2714_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1163\/9789004315235","volume-title":"When historiography met epistemology: sophisticated histories and philosophies of science in French-speaking countries in the second half of the nineteenth century","author":"S Bordoni","year":"2017","unstructured":"Bordoni, S. (2017). When historiography met epistemology: sophisticated histories and philosophies of science in French-speaking countries in the second half of the nineteenth century. Leiden: Koninklijke Brill NV."},{"key":"2714_CR2","first-page":"25","volume":"6","author":"JV Boussinesq","year":"1879","unstructured":"Boussinesq, J. V. (1879). Conciliation du v\u00e9ritable d\u00e9terminisme m\u00e9canique avec l\u2019existence de la vie et de la libert\u00e9 morale. M\u00e9moires de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des sciences de l\u2019agriculture et des arts de Lille, 6, 25\u2013256.","journal-title":"M\u00e9moires de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 des sciences de l\u2019agriculture et des arts de Lille"},{"key":"2714_CR3","volume-title":"Histoire de la Civilisation en Angleterre","author":"HT Buckle","year":"1865","unstructured":"Buckle, H. T. (1865). Histoire de la Civilisation en Angleterre. Paris: Librairie Internationale A. Lacroix."},{"key":"2714_CR4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101","DOI":"10.1098\/rsfs.2011.0052","volume":"2","author":"J Butterfield","year":"2012","unstructured":"Butterfield, J. (2012). Laws, causation and dynamics at different levels. Interface Focus, 2, 101\u2013114.","journal-title":"Interface Focus"},{"key":"2714_CR5","volume-title":"University of Western Ontario series in Philosophy of Science","author":"J Earman","year":"1986","unstructured":"Earman, J. (1986). A primer on determinism. In R. E. Butts (Ed.), University of Western Ontario series in Philosophy of Science. Dordrecht: Reidel."},{"key":"2714_CR6","volume-title":"The philosophy of physical science","author":"AS Eddington","year":"1939","unstructured":"Eddington, A. S. (1939). The philosophy of physical science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press."},{"key":"2714_CR7","volume-title":"Four views on free will","author":"JM Fischer","year":"2007","unstructured":"Fischer, J. M., Kane, R., Pereboom, D., & Vargas, M. (2007). Four views on free will. Oxford: Blackwell."},{"issue":"23","key":"2714_CR8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"829","DOI":"10.2307\/2023833","volume":"66","author":"HG Frankfurt","year":"1969","unstructured":"Frankfurt, H. G. (1969). Alternate possibilities and moral responsibility. The Journal of Philosophy, 66(23), 829\u2013839.","journal-title":"The Journal of Philosophy"},{"key":"2714_CR9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"455","DOI":"10.2307\/2709176","volume":"44","author":"I Hacking","year":"1983","unstructured":"Hacking, I. (1983). Nineteenth century cracks in the concept of determinism. Journal of the History of Ideas, 44, 455\u2013475.","journal-title":"Journal of the History of Ideas"},{"key":"2714_CR10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"273","DOI":"10.1023\/B:SYNT.0000004904.91112.16","volume":"137","author":"A H\u00e1jek","year":"2003","unstructured":"H\u00e1jek, A. (2003). What conditional probability could not be. Synthese, 137, 273\u2013323.","journal-title":"Synthese"},{"key":"2714_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511524646","volume-title":"The large scale structure of space-time","author":"SW Hawking","year":"1973","unstructured":"Hawking, S. W., & Ellis, G. F. R. (1973). The large scale structure of space-time. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press."},{"key":"2714_CR12","volume-title":"Time, reality & experience","author":"C Hoefer","year":"2002","unstructured":"Hoefer, C. (2002). Freedom from the inside out. In C. Callender (Ed.), Time, reality & experience. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press."},{"key":"2714_CR14","volume-title":"Treatise of human nature","author":"D Hume","year":"1888","unstructured":"Hume, D. (1888). Treatise of human nature. Oxford: Clarendon Press."},{"key":"2714_CR15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780190269449.001.0001","volume-title":"How physics makes us free","author":"JT Ismael","year":"2016","unstructured":"Ismael, J. T. (2016). How physics makes us free. Oxford: Oxford University Press."},{"key":"2714_CR16","volume-title":"The principles of psychology","author":"W James","year":"1890","unstructured":"James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. New York: Henry Holt and Company."},{"key":"2714_CR17","volume-title":"The Oxford handbook of free will","year":"2011","unstructured":"Kane, R. (Ed.). (2011). The Oxford handbook of free will (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.","edition":"2"},{"key":"2714_CR18","volume-title":"Treatise on probability","author":"JM Keynes","year":"1921","unstructured":"Keynes, J. M. (1921). Treatise on probability. London: Macmillan & Co."},{"key":"2714_CR19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/9367.001.0001","volume-title":"Consciousness: confessions of a romantic reductionist","author":"C Koch","year":"2012","unstructured":"Koch, C. (2012). Consciousness: confessions of a romantic reductionist. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press."},{"key":"2714_CR20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"48","DOI":"10.1016\/j.shpsb.2012.12.001","volume":"46","author":"H Kragh","year":"2014","unstructured":"Kragh, H. (2014). Testability and epistemic shifts in modern cosmology. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 46, 48\u201356.","journal-title":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics"},{"issue":"1","key":"2714_CR21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"156","DOI":"10.1111\/nous.12019","volume":"48","author":"C List","year":"2014","unstructured":"List, C. (2014). Free will, determinism, and the possibility of doing otherwise. No\u00fbs, 48(1), 156\u2013178.","journal-title":"No\u00fbs"},{"key":"2714_CR22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"List, C. (2019a). XII\u2014What\u2019s wrong with the consequence argument: A compatibilist libertarian response. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 119,\u00a0253\u2013274.","DOI":"10.1093\/arisoc\/aoz018"},{"key":"2714_CR23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4159\/9780674239807","volume-title":"Why free will is real","author":"C List","year":"2019","unstructured":"List, C. (2019b). Why free will is real. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press."},{"key":"2714_CR24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1215\/00318108-2812670","volume":"124","author":"C List","year":"2015","unstructured":"List, C., & Pivato, M. (2015). Emergent chance. Philosophical Review, 124, 119\u2013152.","journal-title":"Philosophical Review"},{"key":"2714_CR25","unstructured":"Luft, J., & Ingham, H. (1955). The Johari window, a graphic model of interpersonal awareness. In\u00a0Proceedings of the Western Training Laboratory in Group Development, Los Angeles: University of California."},{"key":"2714_CR26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"7","DOI":"10.1007\/BF00763473","volume":"14","author":"T Maudlin","year":"1995","unstructured":"Maudlin, T. (1995). Three measurement problems. Topoi, 14, 7\u201315.","journal-title":"Topoi"},{"key":"2714_CR27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"613","DOI":"10.1017\/S0269889715000290","volume":"28","author":"TM Mueller","year":"2015","unstructured":"Mueller, T. M. (2015). The Boussinesq debate: reversibility, instability, and free will. Science in Context, 28, 613\u2013635.","journal-title":"Science in Context"},{"key":"2714_CR28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"441","DOI":"10.1080\/09672567.2016.1186203","volume":"24","author":"TM Mueller","year":"2017","unstructured":"Mueller, T. M. (2017). Can you put free will into an equation? The debate on determinism and mathematics at the end of the nineteenth century. European Journal for the History of Economic Thought, 24, 441\u2013464.","journal-title":"European Journal for the History of Economic Thought"},{"key":"2714_CR29","first-page":"1","volume":"3","author":"JD Norton","year":"2003","unstructured":"Norton, J. D. (2003). Causation as folk science. Philosopher\u2019s Imprint, 3, 1\u201322.","journal-title":"Philosopher\u2019s Imprint"},{"key":"2714_CR30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Norton, J. D. (forthcoming). Eternal inflation: When probabilities fail. Synthese. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11229-018-1734-7.","DOI":"10.1007\/s11229-018-1734-7"},{"key":"2714_CR31","unstructured":"O\u2019Connor, T., & Wong, H. Y. (2015). Emergent properties. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.\u00a0https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/archives\/spr2020\/entries\/properties-emergent\/."},{"key":"2714_CR32","unstructured":"\u00d8hrstr\u00f8m, P., & Hasle, P. (2015). Future contingents. In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/archives\/win2015\/entries\/future-contingents\/."},{"key":"2714_CR33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511498824","volume-title":"Living without free will","author":"D Pereboom","year":"2001","unstructured":"Pereboom, D. (2001). Living without free will. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press."},{"key":"2714_CR34","first-page":"184","volume-title":"Source incompatibilism and alternative possibilities","author":"D Pereboom","year":"2003","unstructured":"Pereboom, D. (2003). Source incompatibilism and alternative possibilities (pp. 184\u2013199). Burlington: Ashgate."},{"key":"2714_CR35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"228","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1475-4975.2005.00114.x","volume":"29","author":"D Pereboom","year":"2005","unstructured":"Pereboom, D. (2005). Defending hard incompatibilism. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 29, 228\u2013247.","journal-title":"Midwest Studies in Philosophy"},{"key":"2714_CR36","volume-title":"The philosophy of science: An encyclopedia","author":"JT Roberts","year":"2006","unstructured":"Roberts, J. T. (2006). Determinism. In S. Sarkar & J. Pfeifer (Eds.), The philosophy of science: An encyclopedia. New York: Routledge."},{"key":"2714_CR47","unstructured":"Saka, P. (manuscript). Statistical determinism: The odds get odder and necessity gets even. http:\/\/www.uh.edu\/psaka\/sylla\/stet.htm."},{"key":"2714_CR37","unstructured":"Stoica, O. C. (2012). Modern physics, determinism, and free-will. Noema, 11, 431\u2013456."},{"key":"2714_CR38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.1007\/BF01624156","volume":"27","author":"P van Inwagen","year":"1975","unstructured":"van Inwagen, P. (1975). The incompatibility of free will and determinism. Philosophical Studies, 27, 185\u2013199.","journal-title":"Philosophical Studies"},{"key":"2714_CR39","volume-title":"An essay on free will","author":"P van Inwagen","year":"1983","unstructured":"van Inwagen, P. (1983). An essay on free will. Oxford: Clarendon Press."},{"key":"2714_CR40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"399","DOI":"10.2307\/2214275","volume":"3","author":"P van Inwagen","year":"1989","unstructured":"van Inwagen, P. (1989). When is the will free? Philosophical Perspectives, 3, 399\u2013422.","journal-title":"Philosophical Perspectives"},{"key":"2714_CR41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"381","DOI":"10.1080\/00033790.2014.935954","volume":"72","author":"M van Strien","year":"2015","unstructured":"van Strien, M. (2015). Vital instability: Life and free will in physics and physiology, 1860\u20131880. Annals of Science, 72, 381\u2013400.","journal-title":"Annals of Science"},{"key":"2714_CR42","unstructured":"Vihvelin, K. (2018). Arguments for incompatibilism.\u00a0In E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/archives\/fall2018\/entries\/incompatibilism-arguments\/."},{"key":"2714_CR43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1225","DOI":"10.1007\/s11229-014-0632-x","volume":"193","author":"S Wenmackers","year":"2016","unstructured":"Wenmackers, S., & Romeijn, J.-W. (2016). New theory about old evidence. Synthese, 193, 1225\u20131250.","journal-title":"Synthese"},{"key":"2714_CR44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"232","DOI":"10.1016\/j.shpsb.2009.06.004","volume":"40","author":"C Werndl","year":"2009","unstructured":"Werndl, C. (2009a). Are deterministic descriptions and indeterministic descriptions observationally equivalent? Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, 40, 232\u2013242.","journal-title":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics"},{"key":"2714_CR45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.1093\/bjps\/axn053","volume":"60","author":"C Werndl","year":"2009","unstructured":"Werndl, C. (2009b). What are the new implications of chaos for unpredictability? British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 60, 195\u2013220.","journal-title":"British Journal for the Philosophy of Science"},{"key":"2714_CR46","volume-title":"Philosophical reflections and syntheses. The collected works of Eugene Paul Wigner (Part B historical, philosophical, and socio-political papers)","author":"EP Wigner","year":"1995","unstructured":"Wigner, E. P. (1995). Events, laws of nature, and invariance principles. In J. Mehra (Ed.), Philosophical reflections and syntheses. The collected works of Eugene Paul Wigner (Part B historical, philosophical, and socio-political papers) (Vol. B\/6). Berlin: Springer."}],"container-title":["Synthese"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s11229-020-02714-z.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s11229-020-02714-z\/fulltext.html","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s11229-020-02714-z.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,24]],"date-time":"2021-09-24T17:10:06Z","timestamp":1632503406000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1007\/s11229-020-02714-z"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,9]]},"references-count":46,"journal-issue":{"issue":"11","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2021,11]]}},"alternative-id":["2714"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s11229-020-02714-z","relation":{},"ISSN":["0039-7857","1573-0964"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"0039-7857"},{"type":"electronic","value":"1573-0964"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,9]]},"assertion":[{"value":"12 September 2019","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"20 May 2020","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"9 June 2020","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}}]}}