determinism

A collection of 152 posts

determinism

Dan Davis responds to my Free Will article in Free Inquiry with his own

I recently had an article ("Is Society Accepting That Free Will Is an Illusion?") in the Free Inquiry magazine published in the US, which was, as far as I can tell, well received. In fact, Tom Clark liked it enough to say and post it at Naturalism.org. Tom Clark stated: "Damn good article - the s

determinism

Compatibilism is a "cop out" - John Searle

Compatibilism is a cop out, as according to John Searle, esteemed philosopher. I think I agree! Watch this Closer To Truth video to hear him explain his stance, talking abut the illusion of free will.   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rZfSTpjGl8[/youtube]

determinism

Moral Responsibility (and the Lack of Free Will)

'Trick Slattery is a great resource for infographics and good introductory book on free will and determinism. Check out his website at: Breaking The Free Will Illusion Loads of good stuff there. Here is an infographic looking at moral responsibility in terms of a lack of free will and

determinism

My Free Inquiry article on free will now freely available!

I recently wrote an article for Free Inquiry titled Is Society Accepting That Free Will Is an Illusion? The article is now in the public domain (thanks to FI and their copyright team) over at Naturalism.org, the home of the excellent Center for Naturalism (whose head Tom Clark I

determinism

My free will discussion podcast appearance on Skepticule

I contribute a short segment called "Pearced Off!" to a skeptical podcast called Skepticule. Recently, they invited me on for a full episode about free will. It is now available here for your delectation. Check it out and let me know what you think [caption id="attachment_

Consciousness

Evolution, language and the unconcsious: yup, free will again!

John D. Bargh is a psychologist with an interest in matters concerning free will. He edited a superb book on psychology and free will which I would advise anyone to get called Are We Free? From it, this excerpt was interesting, especially given recent conversations defending naturalism with a fellow

determinism

Charleston Gazette features my FI free will article

I recently wrote an article for the Free Inquiry on free will and its growing acceptance as an illusion in modern society. The other day, an essayist-veteran-humanist-naturalist-freethinker-lawyer in his 90s wrote this piece for the Charleston Gazette. Thanks! Here is an excerpt:

brain

Some notes on free will, evolution and evolutionary psychology, part 1

This will definitely be TL;DR (Too long; didn't read), but... In discussing some thing on a private thread with a fellow Tippling Philosopher, I have written quite a bit on free will, evolution and evolutionary psychology which I would hat to go to waste and would love to keep for reference and p

Consciousness

Consciousness has less control than believed, according to new theory

Consciousness -- the internal dialogue that seems to govern one's thoughts and actions -- is far less powerful than people believe, serving as a passive conduit rather than an active force that exerts control, according to a new theory proposed by an SF State researcher.

crime

Free Will Skepticism and Criminal Behavior: A Public Health-Quarantine Model

The great Gregg Caruso has produced a fascinating looking paper which I can't wait to read. I have often advocated the quarantine method in crime and punishment. This paper looks to detail that. Here is the abstract: One of the most frequently voiced criticisms of free will skepticism

determinism

My Godless Spellchecker interview on free will well received

I did an interview yesterday on the popular UK podcast Godless Spellchecker mainly on the topic of free will, but going round the houses a little at the beginning and covering some other subjects. I loved it, it was fun and Stephen is a great interviewer (he let me bang

determinism

Is Society Accepting That Free Will Is an Illusion?

I have just had an article published in the "Free Inquiry" magazine, looking at whether society is coming to grips with the idea that contra-causal free will is an illusion. The article is electronically available to FI subscribers here: https://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php/articles/7478 I

determinism

My appearance on The Big Questions on free will on You Tube

What it says on the tin: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L5XbuxKNI8[/youtube] A massive frustration in the lack of defining the terms led to a meandering discussion. I am the one with large mutton chops sitting on the right, next to the Calvinist.

determinism

My thoughts on BBC's The Big Questions on free will

The flagship BBC religion, ethics and politics show, The Big Questions, this week featured a whole hour on free will. I was asked to attend ass a front row guest on the subject in York for the pre-recorded show last Sunday. Here are my thoughts on the actual content of what was discussed.

determinism

My response on free will to a fellow philosophy group member

I have been having a long-standing argument with a relative newcomer to our pub philosophy group (The Tippling Philosophers) over free will. He believes in libertarian free will, though it does appear to be largely based on an argument from wishful thinking and being unwilling to confront the ramifi

determinism

My Appearance on BBC 1’s The Big Questions Today

It finally came to pass as the producers liked the cut of my jib when they phoned me to ask me about my views on free will; a sort of a test run to see if I sounded OK. I passed.

crime

The Quarantine Approach to Crime and Punishment

As a determinist who believes that free will is an illusion, the argument over whether we have libertarian free will or not is somewhat passé. The interesting debates happen over whether we have moral responsibility or not, what any ramifications of this would be, and what approaches we should have

determinism

I might be on the BBC about free will

The weekly BBC programme dealing with religion, morality, ethics etc., called The Big Questions and hosted by Nicky Campbell, have contacted me because they have scheduled a whole programme (usually it is split into 3 topics) on free will. Yey! Bad news is it's the opposite end of

atheism

A poem about God and determinism

And now for something completely different. This has come through my friend Julian Haydon, and it a great piece of creative atheology, dripping with deterministic wordsmithying I love it. Let me know what you think.

determinism

Free will illusionism

One approach to the growing evidence, and immutable logical philosophy, for the fact of (adequate) determinism and free will as an illusion of the mind is that of the illusionist.

determinism

Gregg Caruso on the Dark Side of Free Will

This is a nice little watch. I have a lot of time for the quarantine approach to which Caruso refers. Gregg and myself share many similar views!   [youtube]http://youtu.be/rfOMqehl-ZA[/youtube]

determinism

Determinism vs fatalism - 'Trick's infographic

'Trick Slattery, who has written a really good introductory book & ebook on determinism, has produced this infographic comparing determinism with fatalism. See what you think:   As he says: I’ve been seeing the confusion between two different “no free will” positions crop up a lot recently – Determinism and

determinism

Our brains judge a face's trustworthiness, even when we can’t see it

This fascinating article is from ScienceDaily. It is something I have talked about before with friends, that you can tell so much about a person (or at least think you can) from a cursory look to the face. And, indeed, your brain is doing n awful lot of this non-conscious computation along those lin

determinism

Sensitive? Emotional? Empathetic? It could be in your genes

Do you jump to help the less fortunate, cry during sad movie scenes, or tweet and post the latest topics and photos that excite or move you? If yes, you may be among the 20 percent of our population that is genetically pre-disposed to empathy, according to Stony Brook University psychologists Arthur

determinism

Bob Doyle's 'two-stage' model of free will

The Information Philosopher, Bob Doyle, who has also written a book called The Scandal of Free Will has proposed a two-stage model of free will based on the thinking of William James. I bring this up because previous and infamous ATP commenter, JohnM (John Muze) has been commenting on the Unbelievab