- Do we really have free will, or is it just an illusion?
- Does free will require a disembodied “soul,” or is there a materialistic, scientific basis for it?
- What about the doctrine that everything—including all human thought and action—is predetermined as a matter of cause and effect from the moment of the Big Bang until now, and into the far future as asserted by classical physics and much of modern philosophy?
- And what are we to make of the academically popular doctrine of compatibilism—that free will and predeterminism are compatible?
On January 23, 2019, the PFC South Hills discussion group (then Discussion Group 2) addressed similar issues in an in-person session in Mt. Lebanon. However, several people not at that session have expressed an interest in attending a virtual meeting on this topic, and it accordingly is being brought back by popular demand.
Alan Johnson, the moderator for this session, is preparing a book titled Free Will and Human Life, scheduled for publication later this year. The references below include some of his book reviews (which are incorporated, with some modifications, into his book) on the subject.
REFERENCES (NOT required viewing/reading):
Video lectures: Professor Peter Ulric Tse, “Libertarian Free Will: Neuroscientific and Philosophical Evidence,” https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCh78lhDREMyIOCl3-9BeOWk3Q9MtxWGv. (Other videos on free will can be accessed via Google or Bing.)
Alan E. Johnson, review of Peter Ulric Tse, The Neural Basis of Free Will: Criterial Causation (MIT Press, 2013), https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2766456572?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1(Tse, a neuroscientist, supports free will)
Alan E. Johnson, review of William R. (W. R.) Klemm, Making a Scientific Case for Conscious Agency and Free Will (Academic Press, 2016), https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2688990514?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1 (Klemm, a neuroscientist, supports free will)
Alan E. Johnson, review of Bob Doyle, Free Will: The Scandal of Philosophy (I-Phi Press, 2011), https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2799899388?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1 (Doyle, an astrophysicist-philosopher, supports free will)
Alan E. Johnson, review of Ted Honderich, How Free Are You: The Determinism Problem, 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2002), https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2675676340?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1 (Honderich, a philosophy professor, is the leading advocate in our time of predeterminism)
Alan E. Johnson, review of Sam Harris, Free Will (Free Press, 2012), https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2340911839?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1 (Harris, a neuroscientist, supports predeterminism)
Alan E. Johnson, review of Daniel C. Dennett, Freedom Evolves (Penguin, 2004), https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1506708273?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1 (Dennett, a philosophy professor, is a leading advocate in our time of compatibilism)
Alan E. Johnson, “A Critical Analysis of Libet and Wegner on Free Will,’ Academia.edu, May 23, 2021 (excerpts from Johnson’s forthcoming Free Will and Human Life), https://www.academia.edu/49017352/A_Critical_Analysis_of_Libet_and_Wegner_on_Free_Will (Benjamin Libet concluded from his famous experiments that human actions are initiated by unconscious processes, though humans could veto these initial urges, thereby enabling free will; Daniel Wegner cited Libet and other studies in concluding that conscious intention is merely epiphenomenal and that free will does not exist).
(Photo credit: James Wheeler, “Two Paths,” https://www.souvenirpixels.com/, adaptation used with permission)
PFC Monthly discussion groups are open to all - if the topic interests you, you'll be welcome! Discussion is moderated but informal - speak up as much or little as you wish.
This is our 3rd monthly discussion group. As usual, we will post the discussion topics in advance. Please feel free to submit discussion topics to: info@pghfreethought.org
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