Exploring the illusion of free will and moral responsibility / Gregg D. Caruso.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Caruso, Gregg D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Free will and determinism.

Ethics.

Skepticism.

Physical Description:

vii, 324 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, MD : Lexington Books, 2013.

Summary:

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 lineup 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. Book jacket.

Contents:

Exploring the illusion of free will and moral responsibility / Gregg C. Caruso

Skepticism about free will / Derk Pereboom

The impossibility of ultimate responsibility? / Galen Strawson

Determinism, incompatibilism and compatibilism, actual consciousness and subjective physical worlds, humanity / Ted Honderich

The stubborn illusion of moral responsibility / Bruce Waller

Be a skeptic not a metaskeptic / Neil Levy

Free will as a case of 'crazy ethics' / Saul Smilansky

The potential dark side of believing in free will (and related concepts) : some preliminary findings / Thomas Nadelhoffer and Daniela Goya Tocchetto

The people problem / Benjamin Vilhauer

Living without free will / Susan Blackmore

If free will doesn't exist, neither does water / Manuel Vargas

Free will and error / Shaun Nichols

The complex network of intentions / John-Dylan Haynes and Michael Pauen

Experience and autonomy : why consciousness does and doesn't matter / Thomas W. Clark

What does the brain know and when does it know it? / Mark Hallett

If free will did not exist, it would be necessary to invent it / Susan Pockett

Free will, an illusion? : An answer from a pragmatic sentimentalist point of view / Maureen Sie.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780739177310

0739177311

OCLC:

829988734