Naturalism.org

Opening Gambit: Could You Have Done Otherwise?

Why You Should Rationally Stick With Science

Disinformation About Determinism

You Can't Wait for Determinism to Happen

1. Introduction

I'll be giving a talk for the upcoming 2023 online conference (November-December) of the International Society for the Philosophy of the Sciences of the Mind and am looking for constructive feedback in advance that will help improve the presentation. Pointers to similar approaches in the literature most appreciated! 

The talk is based on this paper of the same title:  https://psyarxiv.com/79xg8

 - Tom Clark, twclark@brandeis.edu

1. Introduction

The Fiction of Phenomenality

Keith Frankish comments on Are Feels Real?

Introduction

Talk summary: One common conception of free will has it that if causal determinism is true, we can’t be free, what’s sometimes called the problem of free will and determinism. As a result, determinism – reliable cause and effect relations – is widely viewed as a threat to autonomy and responsibility. In this talk I aim to rehabilitate the reputation of determinism, showing how a pragmatic (not universal) determinism is not only true, but offers a practical and ethical perspective on human agency.

I.

In seven brief talks on free will in the Waking Up meditation app,  Sam Harris gets it importantly right about the consequences of giving up the myth of libertarian freedom. We are urged to accept causal determinism, plus any indeterminism that might exist, when it comes to understanding ourselves.