To Be Free and Responsible – from Indeterminism to Determinism in the Development of Philosophical Thought

The issue of human free will is relevant to many fields of science. Philosophers have been describing it for more than two and a half thousand years – some proclaim the belief that human free will exists (indeterminism), while others state that it is only an illusion (determinism). From antiquity onwards, there is also no shortage of philosophers admitting that human being has free will, even if he takes action under the influence of many stimuli, which are partially uncontrolled (soft determinism). The subject of the article is a synthetic analysis of selected philosophical concepts referring to human free will from ancient, medieval and modern times up to the beginning of the 20th century. The author intends to prove the thesis that the development of philosophical concepts has primarily moved over the centuries from indeterminism to determinism. Simultaneously, the author points out the influence of philosophical concepts on the justification of human legal responsibility and calls for further research in this area.