The free will debate has been going on for millenia and, like most philosophical debates, shows little chance of being settled anytime soon. A significant part of the debate is definitional: what do we mean when we say "free will." We can argue endlessly about what the term should mean, but it turns out that what most … Continue reading Free will persists even if your brain made you do it
Tag: Libertarianism
Free will and determinism are separate issues
Jerry Coyne as a new post up on free will. One of the recurrent arguments made by free-will “compatibilists” (i.e., those who see free will as being compatible with physical determinism), is that those of us who are incompatibilists—in my case, I think people conceive of free will as reflecting a dualistic “ghost in the … Continue reading Free will and determinism are separate issues
Free will and the value of compatibilism
With the essays traded between Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris, free will is back in the web conversation. I wasn't planning on making another free will post myself, having been mostly satisfied with my previous statement on it. But I've had a few conversations lately, both here on the site and in some other mediums, that … Continue reading Free will and the value of compatibilism
Free will? Free of what?
The concept of free will is intimately tangled up with the idea of responsibility. Are you responsible for your actions? To what degree are your actions predetermined? If they are predetermined, how can we hold anyone accountable for their actions? Does the idea of moral responsibility even make sense? Libertarian free will The classic definition … Continue reading Free will? Free of what?
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