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PublisherOxford University Press, Incorporated

ISBN-100195306422

ISBN-139780195306422

eBay Product ID (ePID)48705022

Product Key Features

Book TitleLibertarian Accounts of Free Will

Number of Pages256 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicFree Will & Determinism

Publication Year2006

GenrePhilosophy

AuthorRandolph Clarke

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.6 in

Item Weight13.8 Oz

Item Length9 in

Item Width6 in

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Reviews"I think this is one of the best books on free will to be published in the past fifteen years, a period during which many excellent works have appeared on the subject. Clarke's critical survey of libertarian theories is an invaluable resource for philosophers interested in free will and his discussions are invariably enlightening."--Mind, "I think this is one of the best books on free will to be published in the past fifteen years, a period during which many excellent works have appeared on the subject. Clarke's critical survey of libertarian theories is an invaluable resource for philosophers interested in free will and his discussions are invariably enlightening."-- Mind " Libertarian Accounts of Free Will offers a careful, often insightful examination of the prospects for an adequate naturalist libertarian incompatibilism; the book examines, that is, theories of freedom under which free action is possible should determinism be false and should the world be as the natural sciences tell us it is. It is an excellent book that anyone interested in this topic should read."--Gideon Yaffe, The Journal of Ethics, "I think this is one of the best books on free will to be published in the past fifteen years, a period during which many excellent works have appeared on the subject. Clarke's critical survey of libertarian theories is an invaluable resource for philosophers interested in free will and his discussions are invariably enlightening."--Mind "Libertarian Accounts of Free Will offers a careful, often insightful examination of the prospects for an adequate naturalist libertarian incompatibilism; the book examines, that is, theories of freedom under which free action is possible should determinism be false and should the world be as the natural sciences tell us it is. It is an excellent book that anyone interested in this topic should read."--Gideon Yaffe, The Journal of Ethics, "I think this is one of the best books on free will to be published in the past fifteen years, a period during which many excellent works have appeared on the subject. Clarke's critical survey of libertarian theories is an invaluable resource for philosophers interested in free will and his discussions are invariably enlightening."--Mind "Libertarian Accounts of Free Willoffers a careful, often insightful examination of the prospects for an adequate naturalist libertarian incompatibilism; the book examines, that is, theories of freedom under which free action is possible should determinism be false and should the world be as the natural sciences tell us it is. It is an excellent book that anyone interested in this topic should read."--Gideon Yaffe,The Journal of Ethics, "I think this is one of the best books on free will to be published in the past fifteen years, a period during which many excellent works have appeared on the subject. Clarke's critical survey of libertarian theories is an invaluable resource for philosophers interested in free will and his discussions are invariably enlightening."--Mind"Libertarian Accounts of Free Will offers a careful, often insightful examination of the prospects for an adequate naturalist libertarian incompatibilism; the book examines, that is, theories of freedom under which free action is possible should determinism be false and should the world be as the natural sciences tell us it is. It is an excellent book that anyone interested in this topic should read."--Gideon Yaffe, The Journal of Ethics

Table Of ContentIntroduction1. Incompatibilism. 2. Active Control and Causation. 3. Event-Causal Accounts and the Problem of Explanation. 4. Deliberative Libertarian Accounts. 5. The Problem of Diminished Control. 6. The Problem of Value. 7. The Freedom of Decisions and Other Actions. 8. An Integrated Agent-Causal Account. 9. Agent Causation and Control. 10. Substance and Cause. ConclusionReferencesIndex

SynopsisThis comprehensive study offers a balanced assessment of libertarian accounts of free will. Bringing to bear recent work on action, causation, and causal explanation, Clarke defends a type of event-causal view from popular objections concerning rationality and diminished control. He subtly explores the extent to which event-causal accounts can secure the things for the sake of which we value free will, judging their success here to be limited. Clarke then sets out a highly originalagent-causal account, one that integrates agent causation and nondeterministic event causation. He defends this view from a number of objections but argues that we should find the substance causation required by any agent-causal account to be impossible. Clarke concludes that if a broad thesis ofincompatibilism is correct--one on which both free will and moral responsibility are incompatible with determinism--then no libertarian account is entirely adequate., This comprehensive study offers a balanced assessment of libertarian accounts of free will. Bringing to bear recent work on action, causation, and causal explanation, Clarke defends a type of event-causal view from popular objections concerning rationality and diminished control. He subtly explores the extent to which event-causal accounts can secure the things for the sake of which we value free will, judging their success here to be limited. Clarke then sets out a highly original agent-causal account, one that integrates agent causation and nondeterministic event causation. He defends this view from a number of objections but argues that we should find the substance causation required by any agent-causal account to be impossible. Clarke concludes that if a broad thesis of incompatibilism is correct--one on which both free will and moral responsibility are incompatible with determinism--then no libertarian account is entirely adequate., The first half of Libertarian Accounts of Free Will provides a careful and complete treatment of the various libertarian theories that do not appeal to agent causation, with Clarke contending that these theories fail to provide an adequate account of the sort of control required by free will. In the second half of the book the author develops his own theory of causation, which in his view yields a satifactory account of that control.