The Free Will Show

In this episode, Dana Kay Nelkin explains the problem of moral luck, which raises a challenge for all theories of freedom and responsibility. After giving several examples of moral luck, Dana explains some types of response to this challenge.Dana’s website:http://www.danakaynelkin.com/Dana’s article on Moral Luck in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-luck/Thomas Nagel's famous paper on moral luck:https://www.jstor.org/stable/4106826?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contentsThe Man in the High Castle is on Amazon Prime (Not Netflix!)https://www.amazon.com/Man-High-Castle-Season/dp/B00RSGFRY8If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at thefreewillshow@gmail.com, via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreewillshow/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Free-Will-Show-105535031200408/

In this episode, Derk Pereboom explains the manipulation argument—an argument that aims at showing that determinism and free will are incompatible. After walking us through his widely discussed “Four-Case  Argument,” Derk summarizes Alfred Mele’s “Zygote Argument” and responds to a variety of objections to manipulation arguments.Derk’s website:http://derk-pereboom.net/Derk’s Books:Free Will, Agency, and Meaning in Life: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/free-will-agency-and-meaning-in-life-9780198776864?cc=ca&lang=en&#Four Views on Free Will: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Four+Views+on+Free+Will-p-9781405134866Others mentioned in the episode:Mele’s Zygote Argument can be found in chapter 7 of Free Will and Luck: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/free-will-and-luck-9780195374391?cc=us&lang=en&McKenna’s Hard-Line Reply: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1933-1592.2008.00179.x

In this episode, Carolina Sartorio explains “Frankfurt cases”—cases that call into question the intuitive idea, sometimes called the principle of alternative possibilities (“PAP” for short), according to which moral responsibility requires alternative possibilities. After talking through one type of objection to Frankfurt cases, Carolina discusses the significance of Frankfurt cases, which she argues extends beyond their role as alleged counterexamples to PAP.Carolina’s Website: http://sartorio.arizona.edu/Carolina’s Book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/causation-and-free-will-9780198746799?cc=ca&lang=en&Frankfurt’s Paper: https://philpapers.org/rec/FRAAPA-8Mele and Robb’s Paper: https://philpapers.org/rec/MELRFCIf you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at thefreewillshow@gmail.com, via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreewillshow/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Free-Will-Show-105535031200408/

Alfred Mele discusses the problem of luck for libertarianism and various perspectives on free will. He explores different types of libertarian views, such as event causal and agent causation, and discusses the distinction between them. Mele proposes a solution to the problem of luck that incorporates its existence without negating free decisions, addressing antecedent probabilities and the first free choice.

Philosopher Peter van Inwagen explains the consequence argument for incompatibilism and discusses the problem of freedom and determinism. He explores different versions of the consequence argument, challenges the fixity of laws of nature, and explores the complexities of free will and attributing blame. The podcast also touches on the mind argument, the problem of luck, and references Harry Frankfurt's cases.

In this episode, Linda Zagzebski explains the argument from God’s infallible foreknowledge to the conclusion that no one has free will. After discussing several responses to the argument, she then explains why this problem is interesting—whether one is a theist or not.Linda’s website: https://www.ou.edu/cas/philosophy/people/faculty/linda-zagzebskiRecommended resources:Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Foreknowledge and Free Will”: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/free-will-foreknowledge/Linda's first book, The Dilemma of Freedom and Foreknowledge: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-dilemma-of-freedom-and-foreknowledge-9780195107630?cc=us&lang=en&#If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at thefreewillshow@gmail.com, via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreewillshow/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Free-Will-Show-105535031200408/

In this episode, Alicia Finch explains an intriguing argument for logical fatalism—the view that the laws of logic preclude out having free will—as well as four types of response to the argument.Alicia’s website: https://www.aliciafinch.com/Recommended resources:Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Fatalism”: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/fatalism/If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at thefreewillshow@gmail.com, via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreewillshow/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Free-Will-Show-105535031200408/

Cohosts Taylor Cyr and Matt Flummer describe Season 1 of The Free Will Show.Taylor’s website: taylorwcyr.comMatt’s website: matthewflummer.weebly.com/If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at thefreewillshow@gmail.com, via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreewillshow/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Free-Will-Show-105535031200408/

In this episode, John Martin Fischer explains three potential threats to our having free will in the sense of having the freedom to do otherwise than what we actually do: the threats from logical fatalism, divine foreknowledge, and causal determinism. John ends by giving a teaser for an alternative conception of free will.John Martin Fischer’s website: https://alaw003.wixsite.com/johnmartinfischerRecommended resources:The book that John mentions at the end of the episode is Four Views on Free Will: https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Four+Views+on+Free+Will-p-9781405134866If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at thefreewillshow@gmail.com, via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreewillshow/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Free-Will-Show-105535031200408/

In this episode, cohosts Taylor Cyr and Matt Flummer present an introduction to the philosophy of free will, including a discussion of differing conceptions of free will, how free will is related to moral responsibility, and why it matters if we have free will.Recommended resources:Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Free Will”: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/The study by psychologists from Brown University is: “Free Will without Metaphysics” by Andrew Monroe and Bertram Malle, available here: http://research.clps.brown.edu/soccogsci/Publications/Pubs/Monroe_Malle_2015_Free_will_without_metaphysics.pdfIf you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at thefreewillshow@gmail.com, via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshowInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefreewillshow/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Free-Will-Show-105535031200408/