Metaphilosophy and Free Will

Metaphilosophy and Free Will PDF Author: Richard Double
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195107624
Category : Free will and determinism
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Get Book Here

Book Description
Double looks at the contending schools of thought on the problem of free will, arguing that the free will problem is intractable because free will theorists are separated by metaphilosophical differences in the way they view the philosophical enterprise.

Metaphilosophy and Free Will

Metaphilosophy and Free Will PDF Author: Richard Double
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195107624
Category : Free will and determinism
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Get Book Here

Book Description
Double looks at the contending schools of thought on the problem of free will, arguing that the free will problem is intractable because free will theorists are separated by metaphilosophical differences in the way they view the philosophical enterprise.

Metaphilosophy and Free Will

Metaphilosophy and Free Will PDF Author: Richard Double
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195355415
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 189

Get Book Here

Book Description
Why is debate over the free will problem so intractable? In this broad and stimulating look at the philosophical enterprise, Richard Double uses the free will controversy to build on the subjectivist conclusion he developed in The Non-Reality of Free Will (OUP 1991). Double argues that various views about free will--e.g., compatibilism, incompatibilism, and even subjectivism--are compelling if, and only if, we adopt supporting metaphilosophical views. Because metaphilosophical considerations are not provable, we cannot show any free will theory to be most reasonable. Metaphilosophy and Free Will deconstructs the free will problem and, by example, challenges philosophers in other areas to show how their philosophical argumentation can succeed.

Four Views on Free Will

Four Views on Free Will PDF Author: John Martin Fischer
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405182040
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 240

Get Book Here

Book Description
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

The Philosophy of Free Will

The Philosophy of Free Will PDF Author: Paul Russell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199875847
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 559

Get Book Here

Book Description
The problem of free will is one of the great perennial issues of philosophy and has been discussed and debated over many centuries. The issues that arise in this sphere cover both metaphysics and morals and concern matters of central importance not only for philosophy but also for law, theology, psychology and the social sciences. What is at stake here is nothing less than our self-image as responsible moral agents who are in control of our own destiny and fate. The investigations and findings of modern science are judged by many to put skeptical pressure on this self-image and may challenge its credibility. During the past few decades the free will controversy has developed and evolved in exciting and significant ways. All the major parties involved in this debate have had to revise and amend their core positions with a view to responding to the sophisticated and searching arguments put forward by their critics and opponents. The papers collected in this volume represent the most essential and indispensable contributions to the contemporary debate. The specific topics covered include: moral luck, skepticism and naturalism, the consequence argument, alternate possibilities, libertarian metaphysics, compatibilism and reason-responsive theories, illusionism and revisionism, optimism and pessimism, and the phenomenology of agency, as well as contributions relating to neuroscience and experimental philosophy. The collection is arranged in a way that presents the topics covered in a structured and organized manner. The general aim is to provide an effective guide for students and readers who are new to the field, as well as a useful collection for those who are already familiar with the topics and contributions. The contributors include many of the leading and most distinguished figures in the field, along with a number of younger scholars who have already had an impact and produced significant work.

The Limits of Free Will

The Limits of Free Will PDF Author: Paul Russell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190627603
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 313

Get Book Here

Book Description
This volume contains a selection of papers concerning free will and moral responsibility. Among the topics covered, as they relate to these problems, are the challenge of skepticism; moral sentiment and moral capacity; necessity and the metaphysics of causation; practical reason; free will and art; fatalism and the limits of agency; and our metaphysical attitudes of optimism and pessimism.

Causation and Free Will

Causation and Free Will PDF Author: Carolina Sartorio
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191063762
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 197

Get Book Here

Book Description
Carolina Sartorio argues that only the actual causes of our behaviour matter to our freedom. Although this simple view of freedom clashes with most theories of responsibility, including the most prominent 'actual sequence' theories currently on offer, Sartorio argues for its truth. The key, she claims, lies in a correct understanding of the role played by causation in a view of that kind. Causation has some important features that make it a responsibility-grounding relation, and this to the success of the view. Also, when agents act freely, the actual causes are richer than they appear to be at first sight; in particular, they reflect the agents' sensitivity to reasons, where this includes both the existence of actual reasons and the absence of other (counterfactual) reasons. So acting freely requires more causes and quite complex causes, as opposed to fewer causes and simpler causes, and is compatible with those causes being deterministic. The book connects two different debates, the one on causation and the one on the problem of free will, in new and illuminating ways.

Free Will: A Very Short Introduction

Free Will: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Thomas Pink
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0192853589
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 145

Get Book Here

Book Description
Every day we seem to make and act upon all kinds of free choices - but are these choices really free? Or are we compelled to act the way we do by factors beyond our control? This book looks at free will.

Free Will: The Basics

Free Will: The Basics PDF Author: Meghan Griffith
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429648537
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
The issue of whether humans are free to make their own decisions has long been debated, and it continues to be controversial today. In Free Will: The Basics Meghan Griffith provides a clear and accessible introduction to this important but challenging philosophical problem. She addresses the questions central to the topic including: Does free will exist, or is it illusory? Can we be free even if everything is determined by a chain of causes? If our actions are not determined, does this mean they are just random or a matter of luck? In order to have the kind of freedom required for moral responsibility, must we have alternatives? What can recent developments in science tell us about the existence of free will? These questions are discussed without prejudicing one view over others, and all technical terminology is clearly explained. This second edition has been revised and updated throughout, with the addition of new sections on dispositionalism, free will as self-organization, and situationism in psychology. Up-to-date suggestions for further reading and a glossary are also included, making Free Will: The Basics an ideal introduction for anyone coming to the subject for the first time.

The Oxford Handbook of Free Will

The Oxford Handbook of Free Will PDF Author: Robert Kane
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199875561
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 663

Get Book Here

Book Description
This second edition of the Oxford Handbook of Free Will is intended to be a sourcebook and guide to current work on free will and related subjects. Its focus is on writings of the past forty years, in which there has been a resurgence of interest in traditional issues about the freedom of the will in the light of new developments in the sciences, philosophy and humanistic studies. Special attention is given to research on free will of the first decade of the twenty-first century since the publication of the first edition of the Handbook. All the essays have been newly written or rewritten for this volume. In addition, there are new essayists and essays surveying topics that have become prominent in debates about free will in the past decade, including new work on the relation of free will to physics, the neurosciences, cognitive science, psychology and empirical philosophy, new versions of traditional views (compatibilist, incompatibilist, libertarian, etc.) and new views (e.g., revisionism) that have emerged. The twenty-eight essays by prominent international scholars and younger scholars cover a host of free will related issues, such as moral agency and responsibility, accountability and blameworthiness in ethics, autonomy, coercion and control in social theory, criminal liability, responsibility and punishment in legal theory, issues about the relation of mind to body, consciousness and the nature of action in philosophy of mind and the cognitive and neurosciences, questions about divine foreknowledge, providence and human freedom in philosophy of religion, and general metaphysical questions about necessity and possibility, determinism, time and chance, quantum reality, causation and explanation.

Free Will

Free Will PDF Author: Mark Balaguer
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262525798
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 152

Get Book Here

Book Description
A philosopher considers whether the scientific and philosophical arguments against free will are reason enough to give up our belief in it. In our daily life, it really seems as though we have free will, that what we do from moment to moment is determined by conscious decisions that we freely make. You get up from the couch, you go for a walk, you eat chocolate ice cream. It seems that we're in control of actions like these; if we are, then we have free will. But in recent years, some have argued that free will is an illusion. The neuroscientist (and best-selling author) Sam Harris and the late Harvard psychologist Daniel Wegner, for example, claim that certain scientific findings disprove free will. In this engaging and accessible volume in the Essential Knowledge series, the philosopher Mark Balaguer examines the various arguments and experiments that have been cited to support the claim that human beings don't have free will. He finds them to be overstated and misguided. Balaguer discusses determinism, the view that every physical event is predetermined, or completely caused by prior events. He describes several philosophical and scientific arguments against free will, including one based on Benjamin Libet's famous neuroscientific experiments, which allegedly show that our conscious decisions are caused by neural events that occur before we choose. He considers various religious and philosophical views, including the philosophical pro-free-will view known as compatibilism. Balaguer concludes that the anti-free-will arguments put forward by philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists simply don't work. They don't provide any good reason to doubt the existence of free will. But, he cautions, this doesn't necessarily mean that we have free will. The question of whether we have free will remains an open one; we simply don't know enough about the brain to answer it definitively.