Scholarlink

<p>Debates about the nature of free will, and whether human beings have it, are some of&#xa0;the most famous and longstanding in philosophy. In this paper, I argue that the term&#xa0;“free will” does not serve these debates well. This is not to say that the debates&#xa0;themselves are unimportant; on the contrary, they are some of the most interesting and&#xa0;personal in philosophy. My central claim is that the term “free will” is associated with&#xa0;problematic connotations that complicate these debates, which concern important&#xa0;issues in ethics, metaphysics, epistemology and several other fields. Fortunately, the&#xa0;term is unnecessary: we already possess the vocabulary needed to discuss these&#xa0;important issues. Moreover, I argue that a set of replacement questions can be&#xa0;formulated to permit a more precise treatment of these issues.</p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Should We Abandon the Term “free will”?

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年1月21日

查看全文
  • Adam John Andreotta

摘要

Debates about the nature of free will, and whether human beings have it, are some of the most famous and longstanding in philosophy. In this paper, I argue that the term “free will” does not serve these debates well. This is not to say that the debates themselves are unimportant; on the contrary, they are some of the most interesting and personal in philosophy. My central claim is that the term “free will” is associated with problematic connotations that complicate these debates, which concern important issues in ethics, metaphysics, epistemology and several other fields. Fortunately, the term is unnecessary: we already possess the vocabulary needed to discuss these important issues. Moreover, I argue that a set of replacement questions can be formulated to permit a more precise treatment of these issues.