Why Free Will Is Real

Why Free Will Is Real
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 225
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780674979581
ISBN-13 : 0674979583
Rating : 4/5 (583 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Why Free Will Is Real by : Christian List

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.


Why Free Will Is Real Related Books

Why Free Will Is Real
Language: en
Pages: 225
Authors: Christian List
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-05-06 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A crystal-clear, scientifically rigorous argument for the existence of free will, challenging what many scientists and scientifically minded philosophers believ
Four Views on Free Will
Language: en
Pages: 240
Authors: John Martin Fischer
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2009-02-04 - Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Focusing on the concepts and interactions of free will, moralresponsibility, and determinism, this text represents the mostup-to-date account of the four major
The Limits of Free Will
Language: en
Pages: 313
Authors: Paul Russell
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017 - Publisher: Oxford University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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 ch
Free Will
Language: en
Pages: 96
Authors: Sam Harris
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-03-06 - Publisher: Simon and Schuster

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

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
Free Will and Consciousness
Language: en
Pages: 313
Authors: Gregg D. Caruso
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012 - Publisher: Lexington Books

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In recent decades, with advances in the behavioral, cognitive, and neurosciences, the idea that patterns of human behavior may ultimately be due to factors beyo