My Account Log in

2 options

Free will, agency, and meaning in life / Derk Pereboom.

EBSCOhost Academic eBook Collection (North America) Available online

View online

Oxford Scholarship Online: Philosophy Available online

View online
Format:
Book
Author/Creator:
Pereboom, Derk, 1957-
Language:
English
Subjects (All):
Free will and determinism.
Responsibility.
Agent (Philosophy).
Meaning (Philosophy).
Life.
Physical Description:
1 online resource (vii, 219 pages)
Edition:
First edition.
Place of Publication:
Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014.
Language Note:
English
Summary:
Derk Pereboom articulates and defends an original, forward-looking conception of moral responsibility. He argues that although we may not possess the kind of free will that is normally considered necessary for moral responsibility, this does not jeopardize our sense of ourselves as agents, or a robust sense of achievement and meaning in life.
Contents:
Cover
Free Will, Agency, and Meaning in Life
Copyright
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1: Defending a Source View
Source views and Frankfurt examples
A criterion for robustness
Evading the dilemma defense
Mere derivative responsibility?
Robert Kane's plural voluntary control response
Ginet's timing criticism
What's the verdict if Jones waits until the last instant?
Rescuing the difference-making intuition
2: Problems for Event-Causal and Non-Causal Libertarianisms
Three kinds of libertarianism
The disappearing agent objection to event-causal libertarianism
Balaguer's event-causal libertarianism
Non-causal views
The mixed theory and the second horn of the dilemma for Balaguer's view
The phenomenological defense
Randomizing manipulation
Final thoughts
3: The Prospects for Agent-Causal Libertarianism
Agent-causal libertarianism and luck objections
Is the agent-causal solution empty?
Agent causation and rationality
Contrastive explanations and an expanding agent-causal power
Is agent-causation reconcilable with the physical laws?
Conclusion
4: A Manipulation Argument against Compatibilism
Compatibilism and how to resist it
A four-case manipulation argument
Alfred Mele's objections
John Fischer's challenge
McKenna's hard-line reply
Daniel Haas and rational coercion
Asymmetry, praiseworthiness, and manipulation
5: Free Will Skepticism and Rational Deliberation
Deliberation and openness
An epistemic openness requirement
Belief in the efficacy of deliberation is required in addition
Objections
Summary
6: Moral Responsibility without Basic Desert
Free will skepticism and blame
Blame and obligation
Blame without the reactive attitudes
Final words
7: Free Will Skepticism and Criminal Behavior
Is criminology insulated from the free will debate?
Retributivism
Moral education theory
Deterrence theories
Punishment justified by the right to harm in self-defense
An incapacitation account
Summary and conclusion 8: Personal Relationships and Meaning in Life
Can the belief that we have free will be justified pragmatically?
Relationships and the reactive attitudes
Guilt and repentance
Forgiveness
Gratitude and love
Life's projects
Bibliography
Index of Topics
Index of Names.
Notes:
Description based upon print version of record.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on print version record.
Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.
ISBN:
0-19-102262-4
0-19-877686-1
0-19-150872-1
OCLC:
871044412

The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.

My Account

Shelf Request an item Bookmarks Fines and fees Settings

Guides

Using the Library Catalog Using Articles+ Library Account