In the early 1880s, Joseph Delboeuf proposed a little-known but ingenious solution to the problem the law of the conservation of energy poses for free will. When energy is transferred between two bodies, the law of energy conservation requires that the energy before and after the transfer be the same, but it says nothing of the time it must take. If we could delay this transfer, Delboeuf proposed, we could alter the course of matter without compromising the conservation of energy. This article begins by tracing the early history of the conflict between free will and the first law of thermodynamics and by recounting some initial attempts to resolve it. It next describes Delboeuf’s theory and the arguments that were made against it, before situating it with respect to some recent developments in the philosophy and psychology of free will.

在 1880 年代初期，约瑟夫·德尔博夫（Joseph Delboeuf）针对能量守恒定律为自由意志提出的问题提出了一个鲜为人知但巧妙的解决方案。当能量在两个物体之间传递时，能量守恒定律要求传递前后的能量相同，但它没有说明必须花费的时间。Delboeuf 提议，如果我们可以延迟这种转移，我们就可以在不影响能量守恒的情况下改变物质的进程。本文首先追溯了自由意志与热力学第一定律之间冲突的早期历史，并叙述了解决它的一些初步尝试。接下来描述了德尔博夫的理论和反对它的论点，然后将其置于自由意志哲学和心理学的一些最新发展中。