Preparing to teach my online course on the science & philosophy of free will in a couple days reminded me, as I looked over the reading materials and thought-provoking questions I’ve prepared: this is my favorite class. Anyone who joins in will find in it a fascinating way to introduce yourself to the whole of philosophy, as it touches on everything from semantics to metaphysics to epistemology to political and moral reasoning, even aesthetics (such as through analyzing the lived experience of feeling free or trapped), and even leads you to a better understanding of consent, and the social role and value of personal autonomy, and the substantial reality of what it means to increase your own self actualization, and what it actually takes to do that (and what it actually means to fall short of it).
I think these are really good reasons to remind people again to take my course, if exploring these things with an experienced expert interests you. If so, you can register anytime from now through the first few days of August. You’ll also need to have or get a copy (print or electronic) of Sam Harris’s Free Will. The course officially starts this Saturday.
Great stuff. I’m sure you’ve read Dennett’s criticism of Harris’ position? I’m a great admirer of Harris (including his ethical, spiritual and political ideas), but this area is one where I think he falls down a bit and I’m more inclined towards Dennett. What are your thoughts on that side-debate?
I’m with Dennett.
That exchange will actually be something we study in the course.
I’d love to take this course, but I’ll be travelling for the next two weeks, so that wouldn’t be a good start. I’ll stay tuned for the next one, though!
A bit off topic, but I’m reading On the Historicty of Jesus for the second time (of many, no doubt!) now and I’m wondering whether there have been any good reviews of it from the Christians, yet. I didn’t see anything particularly compelling in the Amazon reviews, though I admit I haven’t read every single one. Richard, if you have already blogged on this and pointed out any reviews you think are worth looking at, could you point me to that? Thanks!
My list of reviews (and debates), some by Christians, is here. There are a few more to be added. That list will update as I do.
Hi Richard. I’m not able to take the course at the moment, but it’s something I’d definitely consider if you offer it again. Two things I wonder if you address in the course: does determinism undermine our trust in our own beliefs? Eg. If it was determined that i would accept belief X, and I never really even had the option of believing Y, should this undermine my faith in the belief? Or is this problem negated by a “reliablist” epistemology (as long as our belief-forming processes are reliable it doesn’t matter that we could never have believed otherwise)?
Also, do you discuss agent-causation as a defence of libertarianism? To my limited knowledge, agent-causation boils down to “humans have libertarian free will because we are agents, and agents have a magic type of causation different to the regular kind”. In other words, it questions the initial assumption that there is only one kind of causality – the billiard-ball variety.
I will offer this course at least once a year.
And that first is a good question to ask in the course. It would most relate to the last week’s module, but I’d accept it as a question in any unit of the course. The short answer is yes, reliabilism solves the problem.
As to the second question I don’t know what you mean. Do you mean Libertarianism the political-economic theory? If so, you’d need to find an actual example of a Libertarian making that argument. Then you could bring it to the class and we could analyze it. If you only mean libertarian free will (contra-causal free will), that’s a major thread of discussion throughout the course.
Thanks, I will look out for the next course.
I was speaking about libertarian free will. I came across the concept of agent-causation in two articles found in “Free Will, 2nd ed”, edited by Gary Watson: “Agent Causation” by Timothy O’Connor, and “Toward a Credible Agent-Causal Account of Free Will” by Randolph Clarke. I may not have understood the concept, so I wondered if you were familiar with it. But looking at it again, if my summary above is correct then it seems to just be synonymous with libertarianism, so I can see why my question was unclear. Though that might just mean my summary was wrong.
Oh, yes! “Libertarian” free will has no explicit connection to Libertarianism as a political philosophy. It’s just an unfortunate coincidence of the terminology sounding the same, even though it was developed completely independently. And certainly, the concept of libertarian free will is discussed extensively in the course.