Scan barcode
paulataua's review against another edition
3.0
‘Freedom Regained’ touches on most of the main positions in the free will/ determinism debate, and Baggini manages to present the arguments in a totally accessible way. There is little new or astounding here, but maybe there doesn’t need to be. It reads well and stimulates. Who could ask for more?
ink_of_books's review against another edition
5.0
Genau sowas will ich eigentlich die ganze Zeit lesen!
icywaterfall's review against another edition
3.0
“We do have free will, if we understand free will in the compatibilist way."
- Libertarian free will is unfounded and naive, hard determinism is too pessimistic and asks too much of free will much like the libertarians. Compatibilism defines free will in such a way that we can actually possess it. We do not need to be able to act other than how we do in the moment to be free; our choices can be predictable and still free; we can be responsible for our acts even though we couldn't have done other than we did in the moment; free choice doesn't need to be conscious; you don't need to choose your beliefs in order to be capable of acting freely; free will isn't binary, but exists on a spectrum and is not a single capacity.
- There are different definitions of free will, and people have different intuitions regarding what free will should entail meaning that there will never be accord as to what free will actually is, and therefore, if we have it or not. Free will need not be understood as being the same as the common sense view of free will; the actual answer can evolve based on our deeper understanding of the concepts involved.
- Libertarian free will is unfounded and naive, hard determinism is too pessimistic and asks too much of free will much like the libertarians. Compatibilism defines free will in such a way that we can actually possess it. We do not need to be able to act other than how we do in the moment to be free; our choices can be predictable and still free; we can be responsible for our acts even though we couldn't have done other than we did in the moment; free choice doesn't need to be conscious; you don't need to choose your beliefs in order to be capable of acting freely; free will isn't binary, but exists on a spectrum and is not a single capacity.
- There are different definitions of free will, and people have different intuitions regarding what free will should entail meaning that there will never be accord as to what free will actually is, and therefore, if we have it or not. Free will need not be understood as being the same as the common sense view of free will; the actual answer can evolve based on our deeper understanding of the concepts involved.
briarfairchild's review
3.0
Every review I've read has been terribly enthusiastic about this book. And don't get me wrong, I thought it was really interesting - intelligent and challenging. But I can't deny that there were a few things that irritated me about it. The author seemed to assume that the reader would automatically agree with his assessment of various theories and arguments, leading to statements like "No-one could deny..." - well, actually, why couldn't they? It annoyed me that he couldn't seem to admit that people might seriously disagree with him (unless they were actually philosophers, in which case it's fine). Also, there are two or three times where his sentences literally just don't make any kind of sense. But all in all it was a fairly decent read.
More...