Search
Search
If free will is an illusion, responsibility is too
If free will is an illusion, responsibility is too

Date

source

share

Figures like Sam Harris and most recently Robert Sapolsky argue free will is an illusion. Yet most attempt to save the idea that we are morally responsible for our actions, in spite of this lack of free will to choose . . .

Figures like Sam Harris and most recently Robert Sapolsky argue free will is an illusion. Yet most attempt to save the idea that we are morally responsible for our actions, in spite of this lack of free will to choose those actions or the freedom to have acted differently. Lawrence Harvey, grappling with the thought of Paul Rée, a thinker celebrated by the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, writes that if we are to believe free will is an illusion, the idea of responsibility must be thrown away with it.Sam Harris will be appearing via Zoom, alongside over a hundred other leading thinkers and guests appearing in person such as Roger Penrose, Sabine Hossenfelder, Sadiq Khan and more, at the HowTheLightGetsIn festival this September. Talks, debates, music, and comedy, exploring the topics you find on the IAI. Book your place now.   “Responsibility is a …

Read the full article which is published on IAI TV (external link)

More
articles

More
news

What is Disagreement?

What is Disagreement?

This is Part 1 of a 4-part series on the academic, and specifically philosophical study of disagreement. In this series...

Daoism

Daoism

[New Entry by Chad Hansen on April 19, 2025.] Chinese Daoism is a Chinese philosophy of natural practice structured around...

Valuation Pipelines in AI

Valuation Pipelines in AI

Let’s be honest. The last AI conference you attended was probably littered with ethical buzzwords (fairness, privacy, accountability, transparency, safety…)...

Valuation Pipelines in AI

Life as a Flow

Two Truths Approach Each Other What is it to be oneself? Or to live authentically? Psychoanalysis was a first, in...