free will

A collection of 184 posts

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

free will

My guest appearance on Skepticule podcast special on free will

Please check out the guest showing on the Skepticule Podcast, to which I usually contribute a 5-10 minute segment called Pearced Off! This episode was entirely about free will and feature fellow guest contributor (psychologist) Anonymous Steve. The episode can be found here. Please download it!

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

Authoring our thoughts: my favourite video clip

The next five minutes of this video of Sam Harris talking at the Sydney Opera House on free will is fantastic. The idea that we choose our language and our thoughts is an incoherent one, and that notion is set out with aplomb by Harris here. Enjoy: [youtube]https://youtu.

Featured ATP

Charleston murderer was easy to stop.

If you were God. A friend recently emailed this: The South Carolina Shooter's Free Will or the Will of God? The well-established facts about human birth mechanism includes a tremendous amount of knowledge about the incomprehensible chances against any specific person (p) ever being born. The p sperm

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.

Consciousness

Oh dear. William Lane Craig and his bizarre triality...

William Lane Craig, in a recent video, has declared, as a get out of jail free card for free will and neuroscience, a soul-brainstate-consciousness model for decision making.

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

atheism

Classical theism: God's characteristics shown as incoherent

The classical theistic components of God, his characteristics of being all-loving, all-powerful and all-knowing don't work very well together. This has been something which I have sought to elucidate over the years, so I thought I would compile a synopsis of where we are at with the idea of OmniGod,

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