A Criticism of Some Deterministic Systems in Their Relation to Practical Problems ...

A Criticism of Some Deterministic Systems in Their Relation to Practical Problems ... PDF Author: Jesse Herrmann
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Free will and determinism
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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A Criticism of Some Deterministic Systems in Their Relation to Practical Problems ...

A Criticism of Some Deterministic Systems in Their Relation to Practical Problems ... PDF Author: Jesse Herrmann
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Free will and determinism
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description


Nature's Challenge to Free Will

Nature's Challenge to Free Will PDF Author: Bernard Berofsky
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199640017
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
This book offers a defense of humean compatibilism, which bases the belief in the compatibility of free will and determinism on David Hume's idea that laws do not uphold the existence of necessary connections in nature.

Free Will

Free Will PDF Author: Kevin Timpe
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441115048
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Much contemporary scholarship on free will focuses on whether it is compatible with causal determinism. According to compatibilists, it is possible for an agent to be determined in all her choices and actions and still be free. Incompatibilists, on the other hand, think that the existence of free will is incompatible with the truth of determinism. There are two dominant general conceptions of the nature of free will. According to the first of these, free will is primarily a function of being able to do otherwise than one in fact does. On this view, free will centrally depends upon alternative possibilities. The second approach focuses instead on issues of sourcehood, holding that free will is primarily a function of an agent being the source of her actions in a particular way. This book demarcates these two different conceptions free will, explores the relationship between them, and examines how they relate to the debate between compatibilists and incompatibilists. It ultimately argues for a version of Source Incompatibilism.

Why Free Will Is Real

Why Free Will Is Real PDF Author: Christian List
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674239814
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
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 bold new defense of free will in the same naturalistic terms that are usually deployed against it. Unlike those who defend free will by giving up the idea that it requires alternative possibilities to choose from, Christian List retains this idea as central, resisting the tendency to defend free will by watering it down. He concedes that free will and its prerequisites—intentional agency, alternative possibilities, and causal control over our actions—cannot be found among the fundamental physical features of the natural world. But, he argues, that’s not where we should be looking. Free will is a “higher-level” phenomenon found at the level of psychology. It is like other phenomena that emerge from physical processes but are autonomous from them and not best understood in fundamental physical terms—like an ecosystem or the economy. When we discover it in its proper context, acknowledging that free will is real is not just scientifically respectable; it is indispensable for explaining our world.

Determinism and Freewill

Determinism and Freewill PDF Author: Anthony Collins
Publisher: Springer
ISBN:
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 152

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Book Description
The Philosophical Inquiry concerning Human Liberty of Anthony Collins' was considered by Joseph Priestley and Voltaire to be the best book written on freewill up to their own time. Priestley admitted that it convert ed him to determinism and it had a powerful effect on Voltaire in the same direction. It seems important to place in its wider historical context a book which so influenced such men and which greatly impressed the philosophes in general. Therefore - and because such an account has value in itself - the Introduction contains a survey of the freewill controversy from the time of Hobbes to that of Leibniz, giving in some detail the opinions of Hobbes, Locke, Pierre Bayle, William King, Archbishop of Dublin, and Leibniz and an account of the Scholastic doctrine of liberty of indifference - opinions which either influenced Collins or against which he reacted. The value and originality of Collins' works need assessing. He was also at times liable to misinterpret or misunderstand the authorities he quoted. I have, therefore, subjected the Inquiry to a detailed critique. This also gives cross-references to parallel passages in Collins' works and those of the authors who influenced him, and, by discussing the philosophical and theological questions to which his writings give rise, obviates the need for a good many footnotes in the notes that follow the text.

Free Will

Free Will PDF Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451683405
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 96

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Book Description
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.

Knowledge Base - Don't Forget the Basics

Knowledge Base - Don't Forget the Basics PDF Author: Mark Chillery
Publisher: NAFEMS Ltd.
ISBN: 1874376441
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 35

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Book Description
In October 2003, NAFEMS began to publish a series of articles in benchmark magazine, aimed at covering a number of basic FEA principals in a readable and useful format. This “knowledge base” series continued to run over the next seven years, based on the principal that it is always useful to reinforce basic concepts and theories, no matter how advanced the user of the technology has become. In that time, topics as diverse as mesh convergence, pressure vessel stresses, and fatigue have been covered by the author, Mark Chillery of Chalice Engineering. The aim has always been to outline the basic theories behind each topic, and give the reader a quick “one-page” refresher on the subject matter, without delving too deeply into the specifics of the area being covered. After around 23 articles spanning many aspects of FEA, it was decided that the series itself had run its course, but that the material produced could provide great value to analysts by being put together in one reference manual, which could be used as a day-to-day guide to the basics of some of the engineering analysts most critical areas of work. And so this ‘compilation’ has now been produced in order to bring these articles together in an accessible and user-friendly format, which we hope will prove invaluable as an initial reference into a multitude of topics. The articles themselves do not claim to be “definitive” guides to each topic, nor are they the only manner in which some of the analysis processes defined can be carried out – rather they are written from the perspective of an experienced analyst, working with the technology day in, day out. This compilation also differs from many NAFEMS publications, in that the articles have not been extensively edited by the NAFEMS technical working groups. Each article itself could be developed into a publication many times the length of the original by going through this process, but the aim of the articles is not to provide an all-encompassing view of the topic being covered, rather, they should be treated as an introduction to the basics, to underpin basic concepts, and inspire further reading. We hope you find the book useful, and that it helps in some way towards reinforcing some technical knowledge that you use in your everyday work. As the byline says - “Don’t Forget the Basics...”

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible PDF Author: Vlad Petre Glăveanu
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030909131
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 1812

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Book Description
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible represents a comprehensive resource for researchers and practitioners interested in an emerging multidisciplinary area within psychology and the social sciences: the study of how we engage with and cultivate the possible within self, society and culture. Far from being opposed either to the actual or the real, the possible engages with concrete facts and experiences, with the result of transforming them. This encyclopedia examines the notion of the possible and the concepts associated with it from standpoints within psychology, philosophy, sociology, neuroscience and logic, as well as multidisciplinary fields of research including anticipation studies, future studies, complexity theory and creativity research. Presenting multiple perspectives on the possible, the authors consider the distinct social, cultural and psychological processes - e.g., imagination, counterfactual thinking, wonder, play, inspiration, and many others - that define our engagement with new possibilities in domains as diverse as the arts, design and business.

Kant’s Critical Epistemology

Kant’s Critical Epistemology PDF Author: Kenneth R. Westphal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000173410
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
This book assesses and defends Kant’s Critical epistemology, and the rich yet neglected resources it provides for understanding and resolving fundamental issues regarding human experience, perceptual judgment, empirical knowledge and cognitive sciences. Kenneth Westphal first examines Kant’s methods and strategies for examining human sensory-perceptual experience, and then examines Kant’s central, proper, and subtle attention to judgment, and so to the humanly possible valid use of concepts and principles to judge particulars we confront. This provides a comprehensive account of Kant’s anti-Cartesianism, the integrity of his three principles of causal judgment, and Kant’s account of disciminatory perceptual-motor behaviour, including both sensory reafference and perceptual affordances. Westphal then defends the significance of Kant’s subtle and illuminating account of causal judgment for three main philosophical domains: history and philosophy of science, theory of action and human freedom, and philosophy of mind. Kant’s Critical Epistemology will appeal to researchers and advanced students interested in Kant and the relations of his thought to contemporary philosophical debates and to the sciences of the mind.

Proceedings of the Symposium on Critical Factors in Localized Corrosion II

Proceedings of the Symposium on Critical Factors in Localized Corrosion II PDF Author: Paul M. Natishan
Publisher: The Electrochemical Society
ISBN: 9781566771108
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description