Do We Have Free Will? (Little Debates about Big Questions)

In this little but profound volume, Robert Kane and Carolina Sartorio debate a perennial question: Do We Have Free Will?

Kane introduces and defends libertarianism about free will: free will is incompatible with determinism; we are free; we are not determined. Sartorio introduces and defends compatibilism about free will: free will is compatible with determinism; we can be free even while our actions are determined through and through. Simplifying tricky terminology and complicated concepts for readers new to the debate, the authors also cover the latest developments on a controversial topic that gets us entangled in questions about blameworthiness and responsibility, coercion and control, and much more.

Each author first presents their own side, and then they interact through two rounds of objections and replies. Pedagogical features include standard form arguments, section summaries, bolded key terms and principles, a glossary, and annotated reading lists. Short, lively and accessible, the debate showcases diverse and cutting-edge work on free will. As per Saul Smilansky’s foreword, Kane and Sartorio, "present the readers with two things at once: an introduction to the traditional free will problem; and a demonstration of what a great yet very much alive and relevant philosophical problem is like."

Key Features:

• Covers major concepts, views and arguments about free will in an engaging format
• Accessible style and pedagogical features for students and general readers
• Cutting-edge contributions by preeminent scholars on free will.

Robert Kane is University Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Law Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, USA. He is the author of Free Will and Values (1985), Through the Moral Maze (1993), The Significance of Free Will (1996), A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will (2005), Ethics and the Quest for Wisdom (2010), as well as editor of The Oxford Handbook of Free Will (2002, 2011), and author of more than eighty journal articles.

Carolina Sartorio is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona, USA. Her research expertise focuses on issues in causation, agency, free will, and moral responsibility. She is the author of numerous leading research articles in these areas and the book, Causation and Free Will (2016).

Saul Smilansky is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Haifa, Israel.