Description

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.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Exploring the Illusion of Free Will and Moral Responsibility
Part 1: Philosophical Explorations: Free Will Skepticism and Its Implications
Chapter 1: Skepticism about Free Will
Chapter 2: The Impossibility of Ultimate Responsibility?
Chapter 3: Determinism, Incompatibilism and Compatibilism, Actual Consciousness and Subjective Physical Worlds, Humanity
Chapter 4: The Stubborn Illusion of Moral Responsibility
Chapter 5: Be a Skeptic, Not a Metaskeptic
Chapter 6: Free Will as a Case of “Crazy Ethics”
Chapter 7: The Potential Dark Side of Believing in Free Will (and Related Concepts): Some Preliminary Findings
Chapter 8: The People's Problem
Chapter 9: Living Without Free Will
Chapter 10: If Free Will Doesn't Exist, Neither Does Water
Chapter 11: Free Will and Error
Part 2: Scientific Explorations: The Behavioral, Cognitive, and Neurosciences
Chapter 12: The Complex Network of Intentions
Chapter 13: Experience and Autonomy: Why Consciousness Does and Doesn't Matter

Product details

Published Jul 05 2013
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 344
ISBN 9780739177327
Imprint Lexington Books
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Gregg D. Caruso

Contributor

Susan Blackmore

Contributor

Thomas W. Clark

Contributor

Mark Hallett

Contributor

Ted Honderich

Contributor

Neil Levy

Contributor

Shaun Nichols

Contributor

Michael Pauen

Contributor

Derk Pereboom

Contributor

Susan Pockett

Contributor

Maureen Sie

Contributor

Saul Smilansky

Contributor

Galen Strawson

Contributor

Manuel Vargas

Contributor

Bruce Waller

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