Free Will

This novel contributed volume advances the current debate on free will by bridging the divide between analytic and historically oriented approaches to the problem. With thirteen chapters by leading academics in the field, the volume is divided into three parts: free will and determinism, free will and indeterminism, and free will and moral responsibility. The contributors aim to initiate a philosophical discourse that profits from a combination of the two approaches. On the one hand, the analytic tools familiar from the debate ¿ arguments, concepts, and distinctions ¿ can be used to sharpen our understanding of classical philosophical positions. On the other hand, the rich philosophical tradition can be reconstructed so as to inspire new solutions.In recent years, the problem of free will has received special attention in the analytic arena. This is the first anthology to combine historical and analytic perspectives, significantly furthering the debate, and providing a crucialresource to academics and advanced students alike.

Advances the current debate on free will by bridging the divide between analytic and historically oriented approaches to the problem

Part I: Free Will and Determinism.- 1. What is Determinism?; Helen Steward.- 2. Aristotle and the Discovery of Determinism; Dorothea Frede.- 3. Defending Free Will; Nicholas Rescher.- 4. Some Free Thinking about 'Thinking about Free Will'; Marco Hausmann.- 5. Local-Miracle Compatibilism: A Critique; John Martin Fischer.- 6. Backtracking Counterfactuals and Agents' Abilities; Helen Beebee.- 7. Moral Necessity, Agent Causation, and the Determination of Free Actions in Clarke and Leibniz; Julia Jorati.- Part II: Free Will and Indeterminism.- 8. Indeterministic Compatibilism; Caroline Sartorio.- 9. The Culpability Problem and the Indeterminacy of Choice; Thomas Buchheim.- 10. Ambivalent Freedom: Kant and the Problem of Willkür; Jörg Noller.- 11. Determination, Chance and David Hume: On Freedom as a Power; Thomas Pink.- Part III: Free Will and Moral Responsibility.- 12. Kant's Justification for Freedom as a Conclusion for Moral Responsibility; Claudia Blöser.- 13. Does 'Ought' imply 'Can'?; Peter van Inwagen.