How Free are You?: Determinism Problem

by TedHonderich (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1993

  $11.66

  This is a concise introduction to one of the central questions of philosophy that should be of interest to students and general readers - are humans subject to determinism of do we posess free will, and thus responsibility for our actions? The first six chapters of the book deal with the rival claims of the two theories and investigate whether either of them is clear, consistent, complete and demonstrably true. This inquiry in itself amounts to a complete philosophy of mind. The last four chapters deal with the implications of determinism and its significance in our public and private actions. Honderich examines the doctrines of compatibilism, which argues that humans are subject to causation but nevertheless free; and incompatibilism, which sees determinism and freedom as mutually exclusive. This debate has been one of philosophy's main battlegrounds for centuries, with thinkers as distinguished as Hume and Kant in opposite camps.