Articles liés à The Question of Free Will: A Holistic View

The Question of Free Will: A Holistic View - Couverture rigide

White, Morton

 
9780691033174: The Question of Free Will: A Holistic View
Couverture rigide
ISBN 10 : 069103317X ISBN 13 : 9780691033174
Editeur : Princeton University Press, 1993

Synopsis

One of the main philosophical puzzles is the question of free will: what is it? do we have it? how do we know we have it? In this highly original study, noted philosopher Morton White offers a novel defense of the position that we may believe in free will without denying or accepting determinism. White is especially concerned to interpret the statement that a person is free to choose to do something. If it means that not making the choice is not causally necessitated, the question arises: "Not causally necessitated by what?" Antideterminists answer: "Not causally necessitated by anything," whereas those who avoid antideterminism may answer: "Not causally necessitated by an attack of mental disease or by hypnosis." In evaluating these opposing views, White appeals to holism, which says that we do not test isolated statements but groups of statements. Moreover, he regards the statement that an obligatory choice must be free as a moral principle. With the help of these views, he shows how one's view of free choice varies with one's view of a moral excuse. He also shows convincingly why anti-determinism should be rejected in favor of an opposing theory that organizes the relevant data in a simpler way without abandoning beliefs that many of us are reluctant to surrender.

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À propos de l'auteur

Morton White is Professor Emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He is the author of many books, including What Is and What Ought To Be Done (Oxford) and, with Lucia White, The Intellectual Versus the City (Harvard/MIT).

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Éditeur
Princeton University Press
Date d'édition
1993
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
069103317X
ISBN 13 
9780691033174
Reliure
Relié
Nombre de pages
156
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible