In Living Without Free Will, Derk Pereboom argues that our best scientific theories indeed have the consequence that factors beyond our control produce all of the actions we perform, and that because of this, we are not morally responsible for any of them. He seeks to defend the view that morality, meaning, and value remain intact even if we are not morally responsible, and furthermore, that adopting this perspective would provide significant benefit for our lives.
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"This is an impressive book, which can be recommended to all philosophers interested in the problems surrounding freedom and moral responsibility. It covers a lot of ground..." Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
"This book is well written and as easy to read as the intricacy of its argument permits. It is clear, careful, insightful, and well-informed, a good guide to the philosophical literature on the many issues it discusses. Anyone concerned with those issues will profit greatly from reading it. Journal of Ethics
"This book is well written and as easy to read as the intricacy of its argument permits. It is clear, careful, insightful, and well-informed, a good guide to the philosophical literature on the many issues it discusses. Anyone concerned with those issues will profit greatly from reading it. Journal of Ethics
Book Description
In Living Without Free Will, Derk Pereboom argues that our best scientific theories indeed have the consequence that factors beyond our control produce all of the actions we perform, and that because of this, we are not morally responsible for any of them. He seeks to defend the view that morality, meaning, and value remain intact even if we are not morally responsible, and furthermore, that adopting this perspective would provide significant benefit for our lives.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
practical and philosphical approach,
By
This review is from: Living without Free Will (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy) (Paperback)
A good outline of the problem, especially the contradictions inherent in the compatibilist position. What this book does best though is deal with the implications for our grossly outdated approaches to criminal behaviour/responisibility and the implicatons of determinism for our existence in general.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book; Don't buy the Kindle version,
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This review is from: Living without Free Will (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy) (Kindle Edition)
So let me start by saying that this is an absolutely fantastic, brilliant book. Pereboom is one of the best writers on the topic of the problem of free will and moral responsibility, and he makes a compelling case for an initially very counterintuitive position.
My only problem (and the only reason that this isn't a 5 star review) is that I made the mistake of ordering the Kindle version of this book. The digital text looks like it was scanned in with a very low resolution scanner; it is all but unreadable. For over 30 dollars, it is completely unacceptable. Whatever you do, do NOT get the Kindle version of this book. Search for an ebook version elsewhere (if one is available, I don't know), or get yourself the paperback.
2 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
In love with a wrong-headed idea,
By Glenn Coney (Chicago) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Living without Free Will (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy) (Paperback)
Some people are so stupid that the only possible job for them in life is to be a college professor. Derk Pereboom falls into this category. He fell in love with the idea that there is no such thing as free will, which is, admittedly, a seductive idea -- for a college sophomore. His love of this idea stems from the seemingly irrefutable logical statement that everything has a cause (or more properly, many causes). Therefore, every action by a human agent has causes and no action is free. He doesn't understand the subtle, but supremely important, differences between "caused," "determined," and "inevitable." Just because my actions have causes doesn't mean that can't be free. There are emergent properties of complex systems (consider life, which is made up of things that are not alive) that cannot be reduced to the properties of their component parts.
The idea that humans have no free will, and are therefore not morally responsible for their actions is not just wrong in an intellectual sense -- it is extremely dangerous.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
The claim that moral responsibility for an action requires that the agent could have done otherwise is surely attractive. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
tax evasion, hard incompatibilism, microphysical causal powers, deterministic process that traces, moral reason occur, hard incompatibilist, strong emergentism, incompatibilist condition, actual causal history, ordinary reactive attitudes, deterministic causal process, killing peacock, causing the choice, moral sadness, intransigent response, moral education theory, moral anger, hard determinism, constitutional explanation, microphysical state, agent causation, libertarian free will, egoistic reasons, special deterrence, moral resentment Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Free Will, New York, Oxford University Press, Gary Watson, Galen Strawson, Cambridge University Press, Richard Double, Cornell University Press, Recent Work, Thomas Reid, Production of Free Action, Harvard University Press, Carl Ginet, Colonel Mustard, The Ethical Advantages of Hard Determinism, Ferdinand Schoeman, Principle of Alternative Possibilities, Timothy O'Connor, Randolph Clarke, The Moral Education Theory of Punishment, Paternalistic Theory of Punishment, Elbow Room, Englewood Cliffs, David Hunt, Richard Taylor Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The claim that moral responsibility for an action requires that the agent could have done otherwise is surely attractive. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
tax evasion, hard incompatibilism, microphysical causal powers, deterministic process that traces, moral reason occur, hard incompatibilist, strong emergentism, incompatibilist condition, actual causal history, ordinary reactive attitudes, deterministic causal process, killing peacock, causing the choice, moral sadness, intransigent response, moral education theory, moral anger, hard determinism, constitutional explanation, microphysical state, agent causation, libertarian free will, egoistic reasons, special deterrence, moral resentment Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Free Will, New York, Oxford University Press, Gary Watson, Galen Strawson, Cambridge University Press, Richard Double, Cornell University Press, Recent Work, Thomas Reid, Production of Free Action, Harvard University Press, Carl Ginet, Colonel Mustard, The Ethical Advantages of Hard Determinism, Ferdinand Schoeman, Principle of Alternative Possibilities, Timothy O'Connor, Randolph Clarke, The Moral Education Theory of Punishment, Paternalistic Theory of Punishment, Elbow Room, Englewood Cliffs, David Hunt, Richard Taylor Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
29
books
cite this book:
See all 29 books citing this book
- Free Will (Blackwell Readings in Philosophy) by Robert Kane on 5 pages
- Between Chance and Choice: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Determinism by Robert Bishop Dr Dr Dr Dr on page 30, and page 337
- Metaphysics (Dimensions of Philosophy) by Peter van Inwagen on page 217, and Back Matter
- Moral Responsibility: The Ways of Scepticism (Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory) by Carlos Moya in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- In Praise of Blame by George Sher on page 5, and Back Matter
See all 29 books citing this book
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