A Pragmatic and Empirical Approach to Free Will

The long dispute between incompatibilists (namely, the advocates of the contemporary version of the illusory nature of freedom) and compatibilists is further exemplified in the discussion between Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. In this article I try to add to the discussion by outlining a concept of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Andrea Lavazza
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Mimesis Edizioni, Milano 2017-12-01
Series:Rivista Internazionale di Filosofia e Psicologia
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.rifp.it/ojs/index.php/rifp/article/view/rifp.2017.0020/781
Description
Summary:The long dispute between incompatibilists (namely, the advocates of the contemporary version of the illusory nature of freedom) and compatibilists is further exemplified in the discussion between Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett. In this article I try to add to the discussion by outlining a concept of free will linked to five operating conditions and proposing its operationalization and quantification. The idea is to empirically and pragmatically define free will as we need it for moral blame and legal liability, while separating it from the debate on global determinism, local determinism, automatisms and priming phenomena on a psychological level. This is made possible by weakening the claims of determinisms and psychological automatisms, based on the latest research, and by giving a well-outlined definition of free will as I want to defend it.
ISSN:2039-4667
2239-2629