ABSTRACT

What is the place of human free will in our lives if all our actions are the result of some other cause? Does our processing unconscious beliefs or desires make us less free? Is our free will necessarily restricted if we do not choose our own beliefs?
The debate between free will and its opposing doctrine, determinism, is one of the key issues in philosophy. Free Will: An historical and philosophical introduction provides a comprehensive introduction to this highly important question and examines the contributions made by sixteen of the most outstanding thinkers from the time of early Greece to the twentieth century:
*Homer *Sophocles *Platto *Aristotle *St Augustine *St Thomas Aquinas *Descaartes *Spinoza *Hume *Kant *Schopehauer *Freud *Sartre *Weil *Wittgenstein *Moore
Ilham Dilman brings together all the dimensions of the problem of free will with examples from literature, ethics and psychoanalysis. Drawing out valuable insights from both sides of the free will-determinism divide, and he provides an accessible and highly readable introduction to this perennial problem.

chapter |7 pages

Introduction

part |59 pages

Early Greek Thinkers

chapter |10 pages

Homer and the Iliad

Necessity and Grace

chapter |14 pages

Sophocles' Oedipus

Fate, Human Destiny and Individual Responsibility

chapter |14 pages

Plato and Moral Determinism

chapter |19 pages

Aristotle

Moral Knowledge and the Problem of Free Will

part |41 pages

The Coming of Age of Christianity

chapter |18 pages

St Augustine

Free will, the Reality of Evil, and Our Dependence on God

chapter |21 pages

St Thomas Aquinas

Reason, will and Freedom of Decision

part |52 pages

The Rise of Science

chapter |14 pages

Descartes' Dualism

Infinite Freedom with Limited Power

chapter |14 pages

Spinoza

Human Freedom in a World of Strict Determinism

chapter |22 pages

Hume and Kant

Reason, Passion and Free Will

part |104 pages

The Age of Psychology

chapter |14 pages

Schopenhauer

Free Will and Determinism

chapter |11 pages

Freud

Freedom and Self-Knowledge

chapter |16 pages

Sartre

Freedom as Something to Which Man Is Condemned

chapter |15 pages

Simone Weil

Freedom within the Confines of Necessity

chapter |13 pages

G E Moore

Free Will and Causality

chapter |21 pages

Wittgenstein

Freedom of the Will

chapter |12 pages

Conclusion

Human Freedom and Determinism