Free Will and Human Agency: 50 Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments

Description

In this new kind of entrée to contemporary discussions of free will and human agency, Garrett Pendergraft collects and illuminates 50 of the most relevant puzzles, paradoxes, and thought experiments. Assuming no familiarity with the philosophical literature on free will, each chapter describes a case, explains the questions that it raises, briefly summarizes some of the key responses to the case, and provides a list of suggested readings. Every chapter is accessible, succinct, and self-contained. The puzzles are divided into five broad categories: the threat from fatalism, the threat from determinism, practical reason, social dimensions, and moral luck. Entries cover topics such as the grandfather paradox, theological fatalism, the consequence argument, manipulation arguments, luck arguments, weakness of will, action explanation, addiction, blame and punishment, situationism in moral psychology, and Huckleberry Finn. Free Will and Human Agency is an effective and engaging teaching tool as well as a handy resource for anyone interested in exploring the questions that have made human agency a topic of perennial philosophical interest. Key Features Though concise overall, offers broad coverage of the key areas of free will and human agency. Describes each imaginative case directly and in a memorable way, making the cases accessible and easy to remember. Provides a list of suggested readings for each case. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface Part I: Fatalism and Other Sources of Existential Angst 1 The Garden of Forking Paths 2 Tomorrow’s Sea Battle 3 A Date with Destiny 4 Stranger than Fiction 5 The Trouble with Time Travel 6 Does Deliberation Require Uncertainty? 7 One Box or Two? 8 Does Divine Foreknowledge Undermine Our Freedom? 9 Fatalism in the Courtroom Part II: The Threat from Determinism(s) 10 “The Genesis Tub” 11 Swerving Atoms 12 Fear of Snakes 13 Incompatibilist Mountain 14 An Impossible Feat of Engineering 15 Can Elwood Buy an Edsel? 16 The Nefarious Neurosurgeon 17 The Avalanche 18 The Broken Steering Wheel 19 Shark-Infested Waters 20 Professor Plum’s Unfortunate Upbringing 21 Rolling Back and Replaying the Universe 22 Surveying the Folk 23 Metaphysical Flip-Flopping 24 The Fundamental Free Will Puzzle? Part III: Practical Reason 25 Freedom to Choose the Good 26 Is Conscious Choice an Illusion? 27 The Daily Wavester 28 Reading Emma 29 Competing Sets of Reasons 30 The Captain in the Storm 31 One Thought too Many? 32 The Anxious Mountaineer 33 Acting against Better Judgment 34 An Impossible Intention? Part IV: Social Dimensions 35 A Hierarchy of Desires 36 The Conflict between Desires and Values 37 Can Addiction Be Excused? 38 Escaping the Strains of Involvement 39 Hypocritical Blame 40 The Troubling Case of Robert Harris 41 Problems with Pre-punishment 42 The Unfortunate Fawn 43 Do Social Agents Exist? Part V: Moral Luck 44 Is Anything Really Under Our Control? 45 The Unfortunate Taxi Driver 46 How Important Is Character in Explaining Behavior? 47 The Industrious Philosopher(s) 48 JoJo, Son of Jo 49 Huck Finn Does What He Thinks Is Wrong 50 A Herd of Wild Pigs Index