July 8, 2026
The Pathway to Integrated Living
— Daily reminders for a conscious, connected life —
The focus for today is:
True freedom lies not in escaping causality, but in choosing consciously from within it.
Today's message is inspired by Richard Holton, author of works on moral psychology, ethics, and philosophy of law.
Richard Holton explores two distinct worries about free will: first, that the laws of physics and our past determine what we will do, leaving us unfree; and second, that because these factors determine our actions, someone with enough knowledge could predict our choices in advance. While both concerns feel troubling, Holton argues that the second worry—predictability—is actually the deeper one. Yet he also demonstrates that predictability does not logically follow from determinism alone. This distinction matters profoundly for how we understand our own decision-making and responsibility in daily life.
CONTINUE READING the complete article here:
Metaphysics: The Problem of Free Will
Author: Richard Holton
A Reminder:
True freedom lies not in escaping causality, but in choosing consciously from within it.
Please support our work by also subscribing to our YouTube channel. Help us reach more people.
InnerSelf YouTube
About the Author
Richard Holton is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge (previously at MIT). His dissertation was on philosophy of language, and he continues to work in that area, but he currently works mainly in moral psychology, ethics, and philosophy of law. If you need your bike fixed, Richard's your man.
You Shop. Amazon Pays Us.
InnerSelf Stays Free!
Please make your Amazon purchases using this special link —
it doesn’t cost you a penny more.
Use this link. Thank you.
https://www.amazon.com/?tag=innerselfcom
Share the Daily with your friends and family & on social media. The world is a big place needing "new attitudes and new possibilities". Help InnerSelf reach more people and make those "new possibilities" a reality!
Thank you!
You subscribed to this InnerSelf Inspirational email:
If you're receiving this, it's because at some point you subscribed to the InnerSelf Magazine/Newsletter, Today's Inspiration (previously under the name Daily Inspiration) or The Uptake. If you report this as spam, Big Tech then prevents those that want InnerSelf delivered as an email from receiving it. Please be kind. We never send unsolicited emails and we never sell or give away your email to anyone.
If you're not interested anymore, you can unsubscribe If you have any difficulty you can Contact Us
