Customer Reviews

Metaphilosophy and Free Will

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Completely confirms what I observed in reading other books about free will and determinism: determinists are critical philosophical theorists who seek a clear and true description of the world, while freewill advocates are essentially moralists rather than theoretical philosophers.

This is the most insightful book about the debate because it explains the different kinds of motives driving determinists and freewillists.

Determinists, including the author, begin their thinking on a foundation of "What model of the world makes sense intellectually, logically, and rationally, and is comprehensible?"

Freewillists begin their thinking on a foundation of "My goal is to protect, preserve, and defend free will, to prevent the collapse of ethics and society".

The author defines four approaches or motives, but these two are the most basic: trying to scientifically model reality, or trying to protect, preserve, and prop up societal ethics.

My Amazon info area lists other interesting books about determinism, but this may be the only book of its kind, examining the motives of the debaters and showing how they enter the debate for two essentially different reasons.

I strongly recommend adding this book to your free will and determinism collection. It truly unlocks the other books and helps examine the author's motivating programme, mission, or agenda.