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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.
Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451683405
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 96
Get Book Here
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.
Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
ISBN: 0307265773
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 57
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Book Description
A criticism of Christianity from the secularist point of view.
Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 143917122X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 322
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Book Description
Sam Harris dismantles the most common justification for religious faith--that a moral system cannot be based on science.
Author: Christian List
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674979583
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.
Author: Bo Bennett
Publisher: eBookIt.com
ISBN: 145662766X
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 153
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Book Description
Prepare for a Bumpy Ride. Many of our ideas about the world are based more on feelings than facts, sensibilities than science, and rage than reality. We gravitate toward ideas that make us feel comfortable in areas such as religion, politics, philosophy, social justice, love and sex, humanity, and morality. We avoid ideas that make us feel uncomfortable. This avoidance is a largely unconscious process that affects our judgment and gets in the way of our ability to reach rational and reasonable conclusions. By understanding how our mind works in this area, we can start embracing uncomfortable ideas and be better informed, be more understanding of others, and make better decisions in all areas of life. Some uncomfortable ideas entertained in this book: - Political correctness can be harmful - Identity politics is a dangerous game - Morality is functionally democratic - Victims often do share some of the responsibility - God is a far more horrifying character than Satan - There is no such thing as freewill - Americans are manipulated into being pro-war - Non-whites can be racist, and women can be sexist - Some people do "choose to be gay" - Sometimes the bad guys win - Obese people are not perfect the way they are - It's okay to find inappropriate jokes funny Facts don't care about feelings. Science isn't concerned about sensibilities. And reality couldn't care less about rage. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "A bumpy ride indeed. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the content, it still manages to make one think critically about certain things, and that is always a good thing. What's more, it is being presented in a non-threatening, clear, balanced, and objective way. A great way to tackle uncomfortable ideas." ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Very eye-opening. Making us question the things that make them uncomfortable and why, is what we all need. Love it!"
Author: Ahmad Safavy
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781543207064
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 236
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Book Description
REVISED EDITION: 10 Feb, 2018 A brand new theory on the free will question: We believe that Freewill is what separates thinking humanity from instinct-driven animals. For most of history, humans have either taken Freewill for granted or sung its praises. We assume we control our thoughts and that our thoughts control our actions. But what if we're wrong? After all, we may live in a deterministic universe. Since the moment of the Big Bang, matter and molecules have engaged in a complex dance of Cause-and-Effect, and that interaction could have determined the nature of everything-including our thoughts. Such is the argument of Ahmad Safavy, who employs current scientific principles-from the Big Bang to the systematic formation of atoms, molecules, and the living world, to quantum mechanics and chaos theory-to question how molecular action could affect everything including our genetics, our decision-making processes, and our daily lives. In addition to utilizing the well-known scientific terms, theories, and principles, Safavy proposes new concepts such as "Energy Exchange Processes", "Energy-Information Duality Principle", and "Universal Spider Web Interconnectivity Model" in his Freewill-related arguments. While targeting the general readership, the book may be used as a compact but rich source of scientific and philosophical information by the students of these fields. It may be particularly useful to philosophy students with no or limited science background and students of non-scientific disciplines. Skillfully translating complex scientific concepts into accessible, everyday terms, Safavy invites readers to consider the arguments for and against universal Determinism. How does the presence or absence of Freewill affect our lives and our decisions? If there is no Freewill, how would that change our approach to crucial moral and sociological issues? Do we have Freewill? If not, what is occurring when we make a decision and act on it? The answers lie in No-Choice Theory.
Author: Saint Augustine (of Hippo)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fathers of the church
Languages : en
Pages : 310
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Book Description
One of Augustine's most important works, written between 388 and 395, this dialogue has as its objective not so much to discuss free will for its own sake as to discuss the problem of evil in reference to the existence of God, who is almighty and all-good.
Author: Derk Pereboom
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521029961
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 257
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Book Description
Argues that morality, meaning and value remain intact even if we are not morally responsible for our actions.
Author: Mark Balaguer
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262266156
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 213
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Book Description
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 traditional wisdom, the libertarian question reduces to a question about indeterminacy—in particular, to a straightforward empirical question about whether certain neural events in our heads are causally undetermined in a certain specific way; in other words, Balaguer argues that the right kind of indeterminacy would bring with it all of the other requirements for libertarian free will. Finally, he argues that because there is no good evidence as to whether or not the relevant neural events are undetermined in the way that's required, the question of whether human beings possess libertarian free will is a wide-open empirical question.
Author: Daniel M. Wegner
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262290553
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 743
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Book Description
A novel contribution to the age-old debate about free will versus determinism. Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality. Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.
