Science and Free Will

I originally intended to write my PhD thesis on some aspect of mind-body dualism. Thankfully, I soon came to my senses and chose instead to write about some aspect of the increasingly popular topic of physicalism. However, it was not to be, as during the course of my preparations it became increasingly apparent that my interest in one particular chapter - free will and physicalism - far outweighed my interest in the other chapters. At the suggestion of my supervisor I dropped the other chapters - as yet unwritten, thankfully - and concentrated on free will. And so it became a thesis about free will. Oh yes, and science.

I have included the thesis in its entirety - warts and all - including the original abstract. Some of my views have changed over the last ten years, as has my style of writing, but I still think that it is a damn good read (well, for a PhD thesis). But then I wrote it, so I would say that...

Table of Contents

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. The Nature of Free Will

2.i Personal Experience and Free Will

2.ii Libertarianism and Compatibilism

3. The U-Condition

3.i The U-Condition of Free Will

3.ii The U-Condition of Moral Responsibility

4. The C-Condition

4.i A Problem for the C-Condition

4.ii Objections to Frankfurt's Argument

4.iii The Theory of Relativity and the C-Condition

5. The Evolution of Libertarian Free Will

6. Compatibilist Free Will

7. Compatibilist Moral Responsibility

7.i Objections to Compatibilist Moral Responsibility

7.ii Moral Responsibility and Reactive Attitudes

8. The Evolution of Compatibilist Free Will

9. Objections and Replies

9.i Ted Honderich's Objections

9.ii Richard Double's Objections

9.iii Bruce Waller's Objections

10. Conclusions

Bibliography