Electric Agora (archive)

Tag: Free Will

  • Philosophical Questions and their Answers

    By Daniel A. Kaufman ___ It seems that many – most? – philosophers think that what philosophy is about is arriving at true positions on subjects ranging from morality, to knowledge, to reality, and the like. They think there is a determinate answer as to whether moral realism or anti-realism is true or whether the…

  • Newcomb’s Problem, Neuroscience and Free Will

    By Greg Hickey ___ Imagine that you have agreed to participate in a neuroscientific research experiment on predicting human behavior. You undergo a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan of your brain while you watch a video. The video opens with an image of two boxes labeled A and B, and a narrator asks you…

  • the history and uses of the devil

    by Kevin Currie-Knight ____ Stephen Davies (Institute of Economic Studies) chats with me about his new book, A Street-wise Guide to the Devil. [Edward Everett Root, 2021] We talk about the (monotheistic) history of the Devil, why the Devil keeps hanging around, his role in contemporary moral panics, and more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FueUPPWJMss&ab_channel=ElectricAgora 6:13​ – Why/How the…

  • philosophy as diplomacy

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ During a conversation with Megan Fritts of Utah State, I suggested that perhaps philosophical disputes should be conducted as negotiations rather than arguments. I’d like to develop this idea a bit more. That philosophy is a primarily argumentative business is, I trust, evident enough that I don’t need to expand…

  • Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics: Actions, Reasons, Causes … and Ends

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ____ I’ve been saying that I’d like a return to philosophical “normalcy,” meaning that I’d like us to stop indulging what I’ve been calling, alternatively, “crazy” and “desperate” philosophical positions: Panpsychism; Hard Determinism; Eliminative Materialism and “Illusionism”; Platonism; Mind/Body Dualism; and so on. I’m running an ongoing series of conversations with…

  • Prolegomena for a Pluralist Metaphysics: Initial Impressions

    by Daniel A. Kaufman ___ A number of recent – and not so recent – essays and shorter pieces, plus several dialogues with Massimo Pigliucci and discussions on Twitter have begun to converge in my mind around several points, all of which suggest (a) a fundamentally pluralist metaphysics and (b) a central role for Wilfrid…

  • Bits and Pieces – Consciousness and “Wittgenstein/Ryle-Style” (Dis)solutions

    By Daniel A. Kaufman ___ The philosophical problem of consciousness is a problem concerning subjectivity. To be conscious is to be conscious of something: a color; a smell; a feeling or emotion; etc.  This is why it is alternatively described as “conscious experience,” “self-consciousness,” etc. Consciousness, therefore, is a kind of point of view. Specifically,…

  • Compassion and Resentment in the Age of #MeToo

    by Mikhail Valdman The Walking Wounded People’s physical wounds are sometimes visible.  Their emotional wounds are hidden from view, sometimes buried so deep that not even their bearer can spot them.  But imagine that it was all visible.  Imagine that you had a pair of magic glasses with which you could see people’s physical and…

  • Some Problems with Incompatibalism

    by E. John Winner Social determinism and compatibilism I gave up worrying about the “free will vs. determinism” debate back around 1990.  At that time, I was studying Pragmatism, especially (in the present context) that of Dewey [1], George Herbert Mead [2], and the little known but nonetheless important Explanation and Power: The Control of…

  • Why The Free Will Problem Isn’t One

    by Daniel A. Kaufman First of all, the “Free Will Problem” is a stupid  name.  I mean, do I have to think there is such a thing as a “will” in order to believe in Free Will?  Or “freedom,” beyond that of being able to go to the mall, if I want to or not,…