A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will (Fundamentals of Philosophy Series) - Softcover

Kane, Robert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 019514970X ISBN 13: 9780195149708

Publisher: OUP USA, 2005

Synopsis

Accessible to students with no background in the subject, A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will provides an extensive and up-to-date overview of all the latest views on this central problem of philosophy. Opening with a concise introduction to the history of the problem of free will―and its place in the history of philosophy―the book then turns to contemporary debates and theories about free will, determinism, and related subjects like moral responsibility, coercion, compulsion, autonomy, agency, rationality, freedom, and more. Classical compatibilist and new compatibilist theories of free will are considered along with the latest incompatibilist or libertarian theories and the most recent skeptical challenges to free will. Separate chapters are devoted to the relation of free will to moral responsibility and ethics; to modern science; and to religious questions about predestination, divine foreknowledge, and human freedom. Numerous down-to-earth examples and challenging thought experiments enliven the text. The book is an ideal addition to introduction to philosophy, metaphysics, and free will courses.

About this title

Review

engagingly written...a gripping and an absolutely pivotal period of operatic history, (Daniel Snowman, Opera Now)

A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will will replace all other introductions to the subject. (Saul Smilansky. Times Literary Supplement)

...an excellent survey of the contemporary free-will debate...Kane...does such a good job that A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will will replace all other introductions to the subject. While the book is accessible to the lay reader, students of this problem will also read it with benefit. (Saul Smilanksy, Times Literary Supplement)

About the Author

Robert Kane is University Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He is the author of "Free Will and Values" (1985), "Through the Moral Maze" (1994), and "The Significance of Free Will" (1996, winner of the first annual R. W. Hamilton Faculty Book Award).

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019514970X
• ISBN 13: 9780195149708
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208