Free Will 2nd edition: Sourcehood and its Alternatives

by Kevin Timpe

Overview

Contemporary
debates on free will are numerous and multifaceted. According to
compatibilists, it is possible for an agent to be determined in all her choices
and actions and still be free. Incompatibilists, on the other hand, think that
the existence of free will is incompatible with the truth of determinism. There
are also two dominant conceptions of the nature of free will. According to the
first, it is primarily a function of being able to do otherwise than one in
fact does. The second approach focuses on issues of sourcehood, holding
that free will is primarily a function of an agent being the source of her actions
in a particular way.

This book guides the student through all these debates, demarcating the
different conceptions of free will, exploring the relationships between them,
and examining how they relate to the debate between compatibilists and incompatibilists.
In the process, it addresses a number of other views, including revisionism and
free will scepticism. This is the ideal introduction to the contemporary
debates for students at all levels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441197351
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	12/06/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	482 KB

About the Author

Kevin Timpe is Professor of Philosophy at Northwest Nazarene University, USA, and former Templeton Research Fellow at St. Peter's College, University of Oxford, UK. He is the author of Free Will: Sourcehood and Its Alternatives (Continuum, 2008) and Free Will in Philosophical Theology (Continuum, forthcoming). He is also editor of Metaphysics and God (Routledge, 2009), Arguing about
Religion (Routledge, 2009) and (with Craig Boyd) Virtues and Their Vices (Oxford University Press, forthcoming). His recent publications have appeared in Philosophical Studies, American Philosophical Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Faith and Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Philosophia.
Kevin Timpe is Professor of Philosophy at Northwest
Nazarene University, USA, and former Templeton Research Fellow at St. Peter's
College, University of Oxford, UK. He is the author of Free Will: Sourcehood
and Its Alternatives (Continuum, 2008) and Free Will in Philosophical Theology (Continuum, forthcoming). He is
also editor of Metaphysics and God (Routledge, 2009), Arguing about
Religion (Routledge, 2009) and (with Craig Boyd) Virtues and Their Vices (Oxford University Press, forthcoming). His
recent publications have appeared in Philosophical Studies, American
Philosophical Quarterly, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Faith and Philosophy,
Religious Studies, and Philosophia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
\ Part I:
Introducing the Issues\1.
The Basics\2. The Compatibility Question\3. Revisionist
Accounts\4. Free Will Skepticism\Part II: Alternative
Possibilities\5. The Debate Over the
Ability to do Otherwise\6. The Dilemma Defense\7.
Flickers of Freedom\Part III: The Importance of Sourcehood
\ 8. Sourcehood and Compatibilism\9.
Sourcehood, Incompatibilism, and Alternatives\10.
Incompatibilism and Luck\For Further Reading\Notes
\ Bibliography\Index