Thinking about Free Will

This volume brings together van Inwagen's most significant essays in this major field, addressing key topics and including two entirely new chapters.

Peter van Inwagen (Author)

9781316617656, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 March 2017

238 pages, 3 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.34 kg

'No one writes more sensibly about the traditional philosophical problem of free will than does Peter van Inwagen. This book, a collection of his essays on free will, ought to join his An Essay on Free Will, the best modern treatment of the topic, on the shelf of anyone seriously considering the cluster of issues which constitute the traditional philosophical problem of free will. It is an excellent volume.' Peter A. Graham, Notre Dame Philosophical Review

Peter van Inwagen, author of the classic book An Essay on Free Will (1983), has established himself over the last forty years as a leading figure in the philosophical debate about the problem of free will. This volume presents eleven influential essays from throughout his career, as well as two new and previously unpublished essays, 'The Problem of Fr** W*ll' and 'Ability'. The essays include discussions of determinism, moral responsibility, 'Frankfurt counterexamples', the meaning of 'the ability to do otherwise', and the very definition of free will, as well as critiques of writings on the topic by Daniel Dennett and David Lewis. An introduction by the author discusses the history of his thinking about free will. The volume will be a valuable resource for those looking to engage with van Inwagen's significant contributions to this perennially important topic.

Preface
Introduction
1. Ability and responsibility
2. On two arguments for compatibilism
3. Compatibilistic reflections
4. Critical study of Dennett's Elbow Room
5. When is the will free?
6. Moral responsibility, determinism, and the ability to do otherwise
7. Free will remains a mystery
8. Genes, statistics, and desert
9. Freedom to break the laws
10. How to think about the problem of free will
11. A promising argument
12. Preface to the French translation of An Essay on Free Will
13. The problem of fr** w*ll
14. Ability
Index.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Philosophy: metaphysics & ontology [HPJ], Philosophy [HP]