Description
Book SynopsisThis volume is a reassessment of free will and, as such, seeks to answer the question: Do humans ever act under the guidance of the will? To determine if humans have free will, Rescher first examines what exactly free will is and how it should function. While the literature on the subject of free will is vast, a good deal still remains to be done to avert obscurity and confusion. Rescher leads the reader through a conceptual web of distinctions that, taken together, provide a satisfying contribution to philosophical thought on free will in general.
Rescher sharpens his highly conceptual assessment by making distinctions--between productive (or metaphysical) and moral (or motivational) freedom, free decision and free action, motivational and causal determination of choices, durational events and the instantaneous eventuations that mark their commencements and completions, and between pre-determination and precedence determination. In doing so, he also examines the role of natur
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction Historical and Textual Perspectives
1 The Nature of Free Will
2 Modes of Freedom
3 Ramifications of Freedom
4 Some Fallacies Regarding Free Will
5 Free Will as Outside Causality But Compatible With it
6 Free Will Excludes Causal Predetermination But Not Motivational Precedence Determination
7 Freedom and Motivation
8 Compatibilism Regained: What Free Will Excludes is Not Agent Determination But Agent-Bypassing Nature Determination
9 Mind-Matter Coordination
10 Does Free Will Exist? Deliberations Pro and Con
References
Index
