submit urlsubmit rss feedadd directory

article

Free will is the belief or the philosophical doctrine that holds that humans have the power to choose their own deeds. (The concept has also been extended on occasion to animals or artificial intelligence in computers.) Such a belief has been supported as important to moral judgment by many religious authorities and criticized as a form of individualist ideology by writers such as Spinoza and Karl Marx. As typically used, the phrase has both objective and subjective connotations, in the former case indicating the performance of an action by an agent that is not completely conditioned by antecedent factors, and in the latter case the agent's perception that the action was incepted under his or her own volition.

The principle of free will has religious, ethical, psychological and scientific implications. For example, in the religious realm, free will may imply that an omnipotent divinity does not assert its power over individual will and choices. In ethics, free will may imply that individuals can be held morally accountable for their actions. In psychology, it implies that the mind controls some of the actions of the body. In the scientific realm, free will may imply that the actions of the body, including the brain, are not wholly determined by physical causality.

More on [ Free will ]


directory of related categories

 
 
directory of related topics

Evolution and Dynamics :: Complex Systems
Ethics :: Philosophy
Philosophy of Mind :: Philosophy
Physics :: Philosophy of Science

 
Free_Will_and_Determinism RSS feed
Free Will and Determinism - Twitter Search

@Aqua174 @a_chung Aqua, you're gonna love it. It's interesting and well-written and opens a debate abt determinism vs. free will...It's dope
sickathanavg (Celia San Miguel) Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:22:51 -0000
@Aqua174 @a_chung Aqua, you're gonna love it. It's interesting and well-written and opens a debate abt determinism vs. free will...It's dope
Free will and Determinism http://bit.ly/6EDKSp
EmpathCommunity (Empath Community) Thu, 17 Dec 2009 20:32:41 -0000
Free will and Determinism http://bit.ly/6EDKSp
Listening to John Conway's "Free Will and Determinism" lecture @ Princeton on iTunes U. If we have free will, so do elementary particles.
ThomasHopper (Tom Hopper) Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:23:46 -0000
Listening to John Conway's "Free Will and Determinism" lecture @ Princeton on iTunes U. If we have free will, so do elementary particles.
@actresssinger7 The determinism sounds similar to Josiah Royce and the free will sounds similar to William James. Interesting quote!
FredsvilleTN (Fred Walker) Sun, 13 Dec 2009 22:21:19 -0000
@actresssinger7 The determinism sounds similar to Josiah Royce and the free will sounds similar to William James. Interesting quote!

 
Subscribe to Free_Will_and_Determinism RSS feed

directory of related sites

404 An In-Depth Analysis of Volitional Science - Volitional science is the attempted integration of cognitive science with the structure of society. It argues convincingly for the existence of free will. Is a cross-disciplinary study of cog sci, game theory, social science and Austrian economics.

Determinism as True, Compatibilism and Incompatibilism as Both False, and the Real Problem - A critique of the view that quantum theory disproves determinism, and an argument that freedom is simultaneously compatible and incompatible with determinism. By Prof. Ted Honderich.

Free Will, Determinism, and Moral Responsibility - The Whole Thing in Brief - Ted Honderich's (still quite long) summary of a deterministic philosophy of mind, and its consequences for our fundamental attitudes.

Lecture Notes on Free Will and Determinism - Prof. Norman Swartz - Discusses the various problems raised by different concepts of determinism, and presents an argument that physical determinism is compatible with free will.
Meta Description: [ The (Alleged) Problem of Free Will and Determinism is a Modal Fallacy ]

Naturalism.Org - Free Will - A series of essays offering a naturalistic critique of libertarian free will, arguing that such freedom is illusory, and also unnecessary to ground our moral practices.

Online Papers on Consciousness: Free Will - Section on free will from David Chalmers' site.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Free Will - An overview of theories of free will and the problems that they raise. By Timothy O'Connor.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Incompatibilist (Nondeterministic) Theories of Free Will - Randolph Clarke's survey of theories of freedom according to which it is inconsistent with causal determinism.

The Determinism and Freedom Philosophy Website - A comprehensive collection of important papers on the philosophy of free will, freedom and determinism. By Prof. Ted Honderich.

Who's Afraid of Determinism? Rethinking Causes and Possibilities - A chapter from the 'The Free Will Handbook' (edited by Robert Kane, 2002) by Christopher Taylor and Daniel Dennett.

Free_Will_and_Determinism related videos
StA Response 2: Free Will vs. Determinism
Next Video
Free_Will_and_Determinism related videos

 

HOMEADVERTISINGABOUT US

articlesartsbusinesscomputersgameshealthhospitalshomekids & teensnewsmobilephysiciansrecreationreferenceregionalscienceshoppingsocietysportsworld


Submit a Site About Become an Editor