Question

Explain in a paragrah what the libertarian means by claiming that outside forces are influences, not determinants, and that people perform actions for a reason, not as a result of causes.

Answer 1

Libertarianism is a political philosophy that strongly believes in individual freedom. Libertarians believe in freedom of choice. This means that people have the freedom to choose how to respond to certain situations and indulge in certain behaviours. Extraneous factors only act as influences to the behaviour. An individual has the automony and opportunity to perform an action, irrespective of the external factors. These outside forces act in the sense that they can only influence the behaviour to a point. After that certain point, it depends on the individual how to go about an action. This can be correlated with the theory of freewill that suggests that an individual has the power to behave without necessity or fate and is the ability to act on one's own discretion.