[PDF] The Will To Be Free eBook

Author : Sam Harris
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 96 pages
File Size : 45,60 MB
Release : 2012-03-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1451683405

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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 : Michael Frede
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 222 pages
File Size : 27,3 MB
Release : 2012-12
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0520272668

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"As readers will quickly discover, the quality of the text that [Frede] has bequeathed fully matches the brilliance and incisiveness for which all his work is admired." From the foreword by David Sedley

Author : Gregg D. Caruso
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 335 pages
File Size : 21,6 MB
Release : 2013-07-05
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 073917732X

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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 : Peter van Inwagen
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 16,55 MB
Release : 2017-03-16
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1107166500

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This volume brings together van Inwagen's most significant essays in this major field, addressing key topics and including two entirely new chapters.

Author : James B. Miles
Publisher : Troubador Publishing Ltd
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 20,73 MB
Release : 2018-10-02
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1784628328

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Poverty is not accident, but design. We are not all equal before the law. And the central message of contemporary ethics is that only some people matter.

Author : Graham McFee
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 46,2 MB
Release : 2014-12-18
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1317490223

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The question whether human choices and actions are causally determined or are in a way free, and the implications of this for our moral, personal and social lives continues to challenge philosophers. This book explores the determinist rejection of free will through a detailed exposition of the central determinist argument and a consideration of the responses to each of its premises. At every stage familiar examples and case studies help frame and ground the argument. The discussion is at no time peremptory and the invitation to the reader to be drawn in and to contribute to the debate as an engaged participant is palpable in the manner and approach adopted throughout. "Free Will" will be welcomed by students looking for an engaging and clear introduction to the subject, and as a rigorous exercise in philosophical argument it will serve, for the beginning student new to philosophy, as an excellent springboard into the subject more generally.

Author : Gary Watson
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 210 pages
File Size : 27,87 MB
Release : 1982
Category : Philosophy
ISBN :

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The Aim of this series is to bring together important recent writings in major areas of philosophical inquiry, selected from a variety of sources, mostly periodicals, which may not be conveniently available to the university students or the general reader.

Author : John Martin Fischer
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 49,36 MB
Release : 2009-02-04
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1405182040

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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 : Christian List
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 46,66 MB
Release : 2019-05-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0674239814

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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 : R. C. Sproul
Publisher : Baker Books
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 29,40 MB
Release : 2002-04-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1585581534

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What is the role of the will in believing the good news of the gospel? Why is there so much controversy over free will throughout church history? R. C. Sproul finds that Christians have often been influenced by pagan views of the human will that deny the effects of Adam's fall. In Willing to Believe, Sproul traces the free-will controversy from its formal beginning in the fifth century, with the writings of Augustine and Pelagius, to the present. Readers will gain understanding into the nuances separating the views of Protestants and Catholics, Calvinists and Arminians, and Reformed and Dispensationalists. This book, like Sproul's Faith Alone, is a major work on an essential evangelical tenet.