Free Will and Moral Responsibility The Trap the

Authors: Saul Smilansky

Publish Date: 2012/05/20

Volume: 16, Issue: 2, Pages: 211-239

PDF Link

Abstract

In Part I I reflect in some detail upon the free will problem and about the way its understanding has radically changed First I outline the four questions that go into making the free will problem Second I consider four paradigmatic shifts that have occurred in our understanding of this problem Then I go on to reflect upon this complex and multilevel situation In Part II of this essay I explore the major alternative positions and defend my views in new ways Instead of trying to spread over many issues I present one new argument against compatibilism which I call “The Trap” This tries to explicate the main problem that I find with this position Then I present an exposition of what we nevertheless need to follow which I call “the Appreciation of Agency” This supports a measure of compatibilism in a more modest form and opposes hard determinism On this basis we can confront the philosophical and practical questions as to what we ought to believe and how we ought to live with respect to free will and moral responsibility This leads to what I call “The Bubble” which addresses the way in which we deal with the tension between the absence of libertarian free will and The Trap and the crucial need for the Appreciation of Agency I conclude by reflecting upon three attributes of the free will problem that I consider central but that have been neglected in the debate complexity risk and tragedy

Keywords: