Free will: The positive role of illusion
In The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, Volume 2: Metaphysics. Bowling Green: Philosophy Doc Ctr (1999)
| Abstract | In the following essay, I attempt to defend a novel position on ‘the free will problem’. In particular, I intend to provide (in outline) a position based on the descriptively central and normatively crucial role of illusion in the free will issue. Illusion, I claim, is the vital but neglected key to the free will problem. The proposed position, which can be called ‘Illusionism’, can be defended independently from its derivation from P. F. Strawson’s ‘reactive-naturalism’. However, since the role of illusion emerges only at a late stage of the train of arguments pertaining to free will, we will get to our destination by ‘free-riding’ most of the way on Strawson’s train, and then continue a bit further by ourselves, into the uncharted and dangerous Land Of Illusion | |||||||||
| Keywords | Free Will Illusion Strawson | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,672 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesJohn Baer, James C. Kaufman & Roy F. Baumeister (eds.) (2008). Are We Free?: Psychology and Free Will. Oxford University Press.
Max Velmans (2004). Why Conscious Free Will Both is and Isn't an Illusion. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 27 (5):677.
John R. Searle (2001). Free Will as a Problem in Neurobiology. Philosophy 76 (298):491-514.
Richard M. Griffith (1962). The Reality of an Illusion: A Psychology of as-If Free Will. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 23 (December):232-242.
Saul Smilansky (2002). Free Will, Fundamental Dualism,and the Centrality of Illusion. In Robert H. Kane (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Free Will. Oxford University Press.
Saul Smilansky (2000). Free Will and Illusion. Oxford University Press.
Saul Smilansky (1999). Free Will. The Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy 1999:143-152.
Saul Smilansky (2001). Free Will: From Nature to Illusion. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 101 (1):71-95.
Gregg Caruso (2012). Free Will and Consciousness: A Determinist Account of the Illusion of Free Will. Lexington Books.
Susan J. Blackmore (2002). There is No Stream of Consciousness. Journal of Consciousness Studies 9 (5):17-28.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads11 ( #99,483 of 549,069 )Recent downloads (6 months)6 ( #12,324 of 549,069 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
