TY - JOUR AU - Engel, Pascal PY - 2002/03/31 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Free believers JF - Manuscrito: Revista Internacional de Filosofia JA - Manuscrito - Rev. Int. Fil. VL - 25 IS - 3 SE - Artigos DO - UR - https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/manuscrito/article/view/8644648 SP - 155-175 AB - <p>Is there such a thing as free belief? This paper is not about free  expression of belief or free speech. It is about freedom of belief as a mental state. In the sense in which the believer would be the cause of his or her own belief, and could believe at will, it is, for well-known reasons, impossible. Some writers, however, like McDowell, have argued, in a Kantian spirit, that obeying the norms of thought and setting oneself as a member of the “space of reasons” could provide the appropriate notion of free belief. Their account is based on the idea that a reflexive believer is automatically a free believer. I argue that this is wrong. There is no appropriate notion of free belief in this sense, although this does not show that one cannot be responsible for one’s belief.</p> ER -