Reason Without Freedom

Reason Without Freedom PDF Author: David Owens
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134593287
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description
We call beliefs reasonable or unreasonable, justified or unjustified. What does this imply about belief? Does this imply that we are responsible for our beliefs and that we should be blamed for our unreasonable convictions? Or does it imply that we are in control of our beliefs and that what we believe is up to us? Reason Without Freedom argues that the major problems of epistemology have their roots in concerns about our control over and responsibility for belief. David Owens focuses on the arguments of Descartes, Locke and Hume - the founders of epistemology - and presents a critical discussion of the current trends in contemporary epistemology. He proposes that the problems we confront today - scepticism, the analysis of knowlege, and debates on epistemic justification - can be tackled only once we have understood the moral psychology of belief. This can be resolved when we realise that our responsibility for beliefs is profoundly different from our rationality and agency, and that memory and testimony can preserve justified belief without preserving the evidence which might be used to justify it. Reason Without Freedom should be of value to those interested in contemporary epistemology, philosophy of mind and action, ethics, and the history of 17th and 18th century.

Reason Without Freedom

Reason Without Freedom PDF Author: David Owens
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134593287
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 212

Get Book Here

Book Description
We call beliefs reasonable or unreasonable, justified or unjustified. What does this imply about belief? Does this imply that we are responsible for our beliefs and that we should be blamed for our unreasonable convictions? Or does it imply that we are in control of our beliefs and that what we believe is up to us? Reason Without Freedom argues that the major problems of epistemology have their roots in concerns about our control over and responsibility for belief. David Owens focuses on the arguments of Descartes, Locke and Hume - the founders of epistemology - and presents a critical discussion of the current trends in contemporary epistemology. He proposes that the problems we confront today - scepticism, the analysis of knowlege, and debates on epistemic justification - can be tackled only once we have understood the moral psychology of belief. This can be resolved when we realise that our responsibility for beliefs is profoundly different from our rationality and agency, and that memory and testimony can preserve justified belief without preserving the evidence which might be used to justify it. Reason Without Freedom should be of value to those interested in contemporary epistemology, philosophy of mind and action, ethics, and the history of 17th and 18th century.

Freedom within Reason

Freedom within Reason PDF Author: Susan Wolf
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019535897X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Philosophers typically see the issue of free will and determinism in terms of a debate between two standard positions. Incompatibilism holds that freedom and responsibility require causal and metaphysical independence from the impersonal forces of nature. According to compatibilism, people are free and responsible as long as their actions are governed by their desires. In Freedom Within Reason, Susan Wolf charts a path between these traditional positions: We are not free and responsible, she argues, for actions that are governed by desires that we cannot help having. But the wish to form our own desires from nothing is both futile and arbitrary. Some of the forces beyond our control are friends to freedom rather than enemies of it: they endow us with faculties of reason, perception, and imagination, and provide us with the data by which we come to see and appreciate the world for what it is. The independence we want, Wolf argues, is not independence from the world, but independence from forces that prevent or preclude us from choosing how to live in light of a sufficient appreciation of the world. The freedom we want is a freedom within reason and the world.

The Will to Reason

The Will to Reason PDF Author: C. P. Ragland
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190264454
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
In 'Giving Aid Effectively', Mark T. Buntaine argues that countries that are members of international organizations have prompted multilateral development banks to give development and environmental aid more effectively by generating better information about performance.

Self, Reason, and Freedom

Self, Reason, and Freedom PDF Author: Andrea Christofidou
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415501067
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
This book sheds new light on the role of freedom in Descartes' thought and defends the theory of an internal relation between freedom and reason in his metaphysics.

Spinoza on Human Freedom

Spinoza on Human Freedom PDF Author: Matthew J. Kisner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139500090
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 275

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Book Description
Spinoza was one of the most influential figures of the Enlightenment, but his often obscure metaphysics makes it difficult to understand the ultimate message of his philosophy. Although he regarded freedom as the fundamental goal of his ethics and politics, his theory of freedom has not received sustained, comprehensive treatment. Spinoza holds that we attain freedom by governing ourselves according to practical principles, which express many of our deepest moral commitments. Matthew J. Kisner focuses on this theory and presents an alternative picture of the ethical project driving Spinoza's philosophical system. His study of the neglected practical philosophy provides an accessible and concrete picture of what it means to live as Spinoza's ethics envisioned.

Freedom and Reason in Kant, Schelling, and Kierkegaard

Freedom and Reason in Kant, Schelling, and Kierkegaard PDF Author: Michelle Kosch
Publisher: Oxford University Press on Demand
ISBN: 0199289115
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
This book traces a complex of issues surrounding moral agency from Kant through Schelling to Kierkegaard.

Reason Without Freedom

Reason Without Freedom PDF Author: David Owens
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134593295
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Arguing that the major problems in epistemology have their roots in concerns about our control over our beliefs, David Owen presents a critical discussion of the current trends in contemporary epistemology.

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

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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 and Epistemology

Free Will and Epistemology PDF Author: Robert Lockie
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350029068
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
In the first in-depth study of the transcendental argument for decades, Free Will and Epistemology defends a modern version of the famous transcendental argument for free will: that we could not be justified in undermining a strong notion of free will, as a strong notion of free will is required for any such process of undermining to be itself epistemically justified. By arguing for a conception of internalism that goes back to the early days of the internalist-externalist debates, it draws on work by Richard Foley, William Alston and Alvin Plantinga to explain the importance of epistemic deontology and its role in the transcendental argument. It expands on the principle that 'ought' implies 'can' and presents a strong case for a form of self-determination. With references to cases in the neuroscientific and cognitive-psychological literature, Free Will and Epistemology provides an original contribution to work on epistemic justification and the free will debate.

A Philosophy of Freedom

A Philosophy of Freedom PDF Author: Lars Svendsen
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1780234104
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Freedom of speech, religion, choice, will—humans have fought, and continue to fight, for all of these. But what is human freedom really? Taking a broad approach across metaphysics, politics, and ethics, Lars Svendsen explores this question in his engaging book, while also looking at the threats freedom faces today. Though our behaviors, thoughts, and actions are restricted by social and legal rules, deadlines, and burdens, Svendsen argues that the fundamental requirement for living a human life is the ability to be free. A Philosophy of Freedom questions how we can successfully create meaningful lives when we are estranged from the very concept of freedom. Svendsen tackles such issues as the nature of free agency and the possibility of freedom in a universe governed by natural laws. He concludes that the true definition of personal freedom is first and foremost the liberty to devote yourself to what really matters to you—to realize the true value of the life you are living. Drawing on the fascinating debates around the possibility of freedom and its limits within society, this comprehensive investigation provides an accessible and insightful overview that will appeal to academics and general readers alike.