Table Of Content

FREE WILL FREE WILL An Opinionated Guide Alfred R. Mele Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2022 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress ISBN 978– 0– 19– 757423– 2 DOI: 10.1093/ oso/ 9780197574232.001.0001 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed by Integrated Books International, United States of America For my father— again CONTENTS Preface ix 1. Getting Started 1 2. Free Will: Straight Up 11 3. Alternative Possibilities 23 4. A Whirlwind Tour 43 5. Mixing It Up 54 6. Some Sources of Skepticism 77 7. More Skeptical Arguments 92 8. Free Will and Neuroscience 107 9. Wrapping Things Up 130 References 145 Index 147 PREFACE Do we have free will? This book is an opinionated guide through a philosophical maze that leads to an answer. The journey through the maze is meant to be accessible to a very wide audience— to any one who is willing to think along with me as we move forward. No prior training in philosophy is presupposed. I’ll describe var ious philosophical positions on free will and explore their pros and cons. And I’ll make a case for the position I favor. * * * I wrote this book during my tenure of a joint grant from the John Templeton Foundation and the Fetzer Institute. The opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation or the Fetzer Institute. I am grateful to both for their support. For comments on a draft of the book, I am grateful to Mark Balaguer, Roy Baumeister, Lucy Randall, Jay Spitzley, and the students in my undergraduate course in the Philosophy of Action at Florida State University in 2021. Chapter 4 draws liberally from my “Chance, Choice, and Freedom,” The Philosophers’ Magazine 55 (2011): 61– 65. ix