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From the New York Times bestselling author of The End of Faith, a thought-provoking, "brilliant and witty" (Oliver Sacks) look at the notion of free will—and the implications that it is an illusion. A belief in free will touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement—without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. And yet the facts tell us that free will is an illusion. In this enlightening book, Sam Harris argues that this truth about the human mind does not undermine morality or diminish the importance of social and political freedom, but it can and should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life.
This book rescues compatibilists from the familiar charge of 'quagmire of evasion' by arguing that the problem of free will and determinism is a metaphysical problem with a metaphysical solution. There is no good reason to think that determinism would rob us of the free will we think we have.
A crystal-clear, scientifically rigorous argument for the existence of free will, challenging what many scientists and scientifically minded philosophers believe. Philosophers have argued about the nature and the very existence of free will for centuries. Today, many scientists and scientifically minded commentators are skeptical that it exists, especially when it is understood to require the ability to choose between alternative possibilities. If the laws of physics govern everything that happens, they argue, then how can our choices be free? Believers in free will must be misled by habit, sentiment, or religious doctrine. Why Free Will Is Real defies scientific orthodoxy and presents a bol...
In this small book, theoretical physicist Gerard 't Hooft (Nobel prize 1999), philosopher Emanuele Severino (Lincei Academician), and theologian Piero Coda (Pontifical Lateran University) confront one another on a topic that lies at the roots of quantum mechanics and at the origin of Western thought: Determinism and Free Will. "God does not play dice" said Einstein, a tenacious determinist. Quantum Mechanics and its clash with General Relativity have reanimated ancient dilemmas about chance and necessity: Is Nature deterministic? Is Man free? The “free-will theorem” by Conway and Kochen, and the deterministic interpretation of quantum mechanics proposed by 't Hooft, revive such philosophical questions in modern Physics. Is Becoming real? Is the Elementary Event a product of the Case? The cyclopean clash between Heraclitus and Parmenides has entered a new episode, as evidenced by the essays in this volume.
XI Determinism and Phenomenology -- 1. The Demand for a Sufficient Reason -- 2. Overt and Covert Forces -- 3. Casuistry and Verdicts -- 4. The Partial Efficacy of Reason -- XII Theoretical and Practical Explanation -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Theoretical Explanation -- 3. Practical Explanation: Logical Completeness -- 4. Practical Explanation: Universalisability -- 5. Practical Explanation and Justification -- 6. Practical, Theoretical and Personal Explanation -- 7. Applications to the Problem -- XIII Determinism, Science and Morality -- 1. Determinism and Expirical Discovery -- 2. Libertarian Objections -- 3. The Issue Emerging -- 4. Determinism and Scientific Progress -- 5. Determinist Moralities -- XIV Conclusion -- 1. Where thought must Stop -- 2. Metaphysical Explanation -- 3. Libertarianism, Determinism and Ultimacy -- 4. The Natural and the Common View -- 5. Assessment of the Issues -- 6. Dialogue in Philosophy -- Appendices -- Appendix I Moral Libertarianism -- Appendix II 'Could have done Otherwise' -- Index
In recent decades, with advances in the behavioral, cognitive, and neurosciences, the idea that patterns of human behavior may ultimately be due to factors beyond our conscious control has increasingly gained traction and renewed interest in the age-old problem of free will. In this book, Gregg D. Caruso examines both the traditional philosophical problems long associated with the question of free will, such as the relationship between determinism and free will, as well as recent experimental and theoretical work directly related to consciousness and human agency. He argues that our best scientific theories indeed have the consequence that factors beyond our control produce all of the action...
Focusing on the concepts and interactions of free will, moralresponsibility, and determinism, this text represents the mostup-to-date account of the four major positions in the free willdebate. Four serious and well-known philosophers explore the opposingviewpoints of libertarianism, compatibilism, hard incompatibilism,and revisionism The first half of the book contains each philosopher’sexplanation of his particular view; the second half allows them todirectly respond to each other’s arguments, in a lively andengaging conversation Offers the reader a one of a kind, interactive discussion Forms part of the acclaimed Great Debates in Philosophyseries
An argument that the problem of free will boils down to an open scientific question about the causal histories of certain kinds of neural events. In this largely antimetaphysical treatment of free will and determinism, Mark Balaguer argues that the philosophical problem of free will boils down to an open scientific question about the causal histories of certain kinds of neural events. In the course of his argument, Balaguer provides a naturalistic defense of the libertarian view of free will. The metaphysical component of the problem of free will, Balaguer argues, essentially boils down to the question of whether humans possess libertarian free will. Furthermore, he argues that, contrary to ...
The problem of the freedom or the bondage of the will was brought to this country by the Puritans, and it has been one of the unanswerable questions ever since. Whereas many other books have been written on Puritanism and on naturalism in their philosophic and theological manifestations, this book traces these ideas through our national literature. Chapter 1 begins with a brief account of St. Augustine's views concerning the will, continues with a full discussion of John Calvin's modifications of Augustine's views, and ends with a consideration of Puritan concepts of the will as found in the writings of Michael Wigglesworth and Jonathan Edwards. The second chapter looks at the subject of the...