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A review by rodhilton
Free Will by Sam Harris
3.0
Sam Harris has been doing a thing lately where, rather than publishing a full-length book, he publishes long essays as eBooks. It's kind of weird, and ultimately the main problem of Free Will.
Free Will is a big topic. It's one of the most hotly discussed aspects of philosophy, and the fundamental foundation for our justice system. Free Will is a big deal. So if you think that 80 pages might not be enough to cover such a huge topic, I'd have to say you're dead on.
Harris makes a strong argument that Free Will, even that proposed by Compatibilism, is illusory. I think this argument is actually pretty convincing, as a Compatibilist myself, I found myself questioning a number of my beliefs. I like when books make me do this, so I really enjoyed this bit. Sam's argument is pure determinism, which is something of a rarity, particularly as well-argued as it is in Free Will.
I temporarily suspended my belief in Compatibilist Free Will for the purpose of reading the book, and I was flooded with a number of questions. What impact does this have on our legal system and our sense of personal accountability? The implications of no free will are enormous, and I expected to see Sam provide some great insight into these sorts of questions. But instead, the book ended.
Just when things are starting to get interesting, there's a 2-page section (I can't call it a chapter) on the legal implications of determinism, and then a conclusion. The conclusion, hilariously, ends with Sam arguing that, since his actions are determined by factors out of his control, he may as well write the final few paragraphs as a stream of consciousness, which includes ruminations on the fact that he wants to stop writing because he's hungry. Quite appropriate because, as a book, it feels like something the author stopped writing to go make a sandwich, then never came back to and finished.
Free Will is too fascinating a topic, with too huge of set of implications, to be dismantled in a mere 80 pages without further discussion. Free Will is an enjoyable book/essay/glorified blog post, but it doesn't do it's subject matter justice.
Free Will is a big topic. It's one of the most hotly discussed aspects of philosophy, and the fundamental foundation for our justice system. Free Will is a big deal. So if you think that 80 pages might not be enough to cover such a huge topic, I'd have to say you're dead on.
Harris makes a strong argument that Free Will, even that proposed by Compatibilism, is illusory. I think this argument is actually pretty convincing, as a Compatibilist myself, I found myself questioning a number of my beliefs. I like when books make me do this, so I really enjoyed this bit. Sam's argument is pure determinism, which is something of a rarity, particularly as well-argued as it is in Free Will.
I temporarily suspended my belief in Compatibilist Free Will for the purpose of reading the book, and I was flooded with a number of questions. What impact does this have on our legal system and our sense of personal accountability? The implications of no free will are enormous, and I expected to see Sam provide some great insight into these sorts of questions. But instead, the book ended.
Just when things are starting to get interesting, there's a 2-page section (I can't call it a chapter) on the legal implications of determinism, and then a conclusion. The conclusion, hilariously, ends with Sam arguing that, since his actions are determined by factors out of his control, he may as well write the final few paragraphs as a stream of consciousness, which includes ruminations on the fact that he wants to stop writing because he's hungry. Quite appropriate because, as a book, it feels like something the author stopped writing to go make a sandwich, then never came back to and finished.
Free Will is too fascinating a topic, with too huge of set of implications, to be dismantled in a mere 80 pages without further discussion. Free Will is an enjoyable book/essay/glorified blog post, but it doesn't do it's subject matter justice.