Determinism, in the strict sense, is self-contradictory. For if man's mental processes—specifically, his attempts at reasoning—are not free, if they are determined by environment and heredity, then there is no means of claiming that theory x is true and y is false—since man can have no way of knowing that his mental processes might not be conditioned to force him to believe that x is logical, when in fact it is not.


Big Business and the Rise of American Statism, Child's speech at first convention of Society for Individual Liberty, held November 15-16, 1969. Reprinted in Liberty Against Power, San Francisco: CA, Fox & Wilkes (1994) p. 23

Roy Childs Quotes

Determinism, in the strict sense, is self-contradictory. For if man's mental processes—specifically, his attempts at reasoning—are not free, if...

Determinism, in the strict sense, is self-contradictory. For if man's mental processes—specifically, his attempts at reasoning—are not free, if...

Determinism, in the strict sense, is self-contradictory. For if man's mental processes—specifically, his attempts at reasoning—are not free, if...

Determinism, in the strict sense, is self-contradictory. For if man's mental processes—specifically, his attempts at reasoning—are not free, if...