The Partially Examined Life (Citizens): (Protected Content)
Free will is the ability to choose between different possible courses of action. It is closely linked to the concepts of responsibility, praise, guilt, sin, and other judgments that apply only to actions that are freely chosen. Traditionally, only actions that are freely willed are seen as deserving credit or blame.
PEL Citizens Justin Modra, Alexander Roth, and Brian Wise discuss free will as expressed by the question, “Could I have done otherwise?” The book selected is The Free Will Delusion: How We Settled for the Illusion of Morality (2015).
The book explores the paradox presented by the widespread belief in free will against the paucity of scientific evidence and cogent philosophical arguments. The author, Miles, is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Free Will. He has also published a number of articles on free will across philosophy, social science, and natural science journals.
Leave a Reply