Doing Without Free Will

Author : Derk Pereboom
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 0521029961
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.64/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Living Without Free Will written by Derk Pereboom and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2006-11-02 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Argues that morality, meaning and value remain intact even if we are not morally responsible for our actions.

Author : Derk Pereboom
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1139428705
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.05/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Living without Free Will written by Derk Pereboom and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-02-19 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most people assume that, even though some degenerative or criminal behavior may be caused by influences beyond our control, ordinary human actions are not similarly generated, but rather are freely chosen, and we can be praiseworthy or blameworthy for them. A less popular and more radical claim is that factors beyond our control produce all of the actions we perform. It is this hard determinist stance that Derk Pereboom articulates in Living Without Free Will. Pereboom argues that our best scientific theories have the consequence that factors beyond our control produce all of the actions we perform, and that because of this, we are not morally responsible for any of them. He seeks to defend the view that morality, meaning and value remain intact even if we are not morally responsible, and furthermore, that adopting this perspective would provide significant benefit for our lives.

Author : Derk Pereboom
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521791984
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Living without Free Will written by Derk Pereboom and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-02-19 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Living Without Free Will, Derk Pereboom argues that our best scientific theories indeed have the consequence that factors beyond our control produce all of the actions we perform, and that because of this, we are not morally responsible for any of them. He seeks to defend the view that morality, meaning, and value remain intact even if we are not morally responsible, and furthermore, that adopting this perspective would provide significant benefit for our lives.

Author : Sam Harris
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451683405
Total Pages : 96 pages
Book Rating : 4.00/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Free Will written by Sam Harris and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 : Derk Pereboom
Publisher : Hackett Publishing
ISBN 13 : 160384886X
Total Pages : 405 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Free Will written by Derk Pereboom and published by Hackett Publishing. This book was released on 2009-11-13 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique anthology featuring contributions to the dispute over free will from Aristotle to the twenty-first century, Derk Pereboom's volume presents the most thoughtful positions taken in this crucial debate and discusses their consequences for free will's traditional corollary, moral responsibility. The Second Edition retains the organizational structure that made its predecessor the leading anthology of its kind, while adding major new selections by such philosophers as Spinoza, Reid, John Martin Fischer, Robert Kane, Galen Strawson, and Timothy O'Connor. Hackett Readings in Philosophy is a versatile series of compact anthologies, each devoted to a topic of traditional interest. Selections include classical, modern, and contemporary writings chosen for their elegance of exposition and success at stimulating thought and discussion.

Author : John Martin Fischer
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1405182040
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Four Views on Free Will written by John Martin Fischer and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2009-02-04 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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

Author : Meghan Griffith
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 0415562198
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Free Will written by Meghan Griffith and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question of whether humans are free to make their own decisions has long been debated and it continues to be a controversial topic today. In Free Will: The Basics readers are provided with a clear and accessible introduction to this central but challenging philosophical problem. The questions which are discussed include: 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? Because these questions are discussed without prejudicing one view over others and all technical terminology is clearly explained, this book is an ideal introduction to free will for the uninitiated.

Author : Gregg D. Caruso
Publisher : Lexington Books
ISBN 13 : 073917732X
Total Pages : 335 pages
Book Rating : 4.27/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Exploring the Illusion of Free Will and Moral Responsibility written by Gregg D. Caruso and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2013-07-05 with total page 335 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the Illusion of Free Will and Moral Responsibility investigates the philosophical and scientific arguments for free will skepticism and their implications. Skepticism about free will and moral responsibility has been on the rise in recent years. In fact, a significant number of philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists now either doubt or outright deny the existence of free will and/or moral responsibility—and the list of prominent skeptics appears to grow by the day. Given the profound importance that the concepts of free will and moral responsibility hold in our lives—in understanding ourselves, society, and the law—it is important that we explore what is behind this new wave of skepticism. It is also important that we explore the potential consequences of skepticism for ourselves and society. Edited by Gregg D. Caruso, this collection of new essays brings together an internationally recognized line-up of contributors, most of whom hold skeptical positions of some sort, to display and explore the leading arguments for free will skepticism and to debate their implications.

Author : Christian List
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674239814
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Why Free Will Is Real written by Christian List and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-06 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 : Kevin Timpe
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1441115048
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Free Will written by Kevin Timpe and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2008-07-23 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.