A free will Frede, Michael
2011., 20110102, 2011, 2011-02-01, 20110101, Volume:
68
eBook
Where does the notion of free will come from? How and when did it develop, and what did that development involve? In Michael Frede's radically new account of the history of this idea, the notion of a ...free will emerged from powerful assumptions about the relation between divine providence, correctness of individual choice, and self-enslavement due to incorrect choice. Anchoring his discussion in Stoicism, Frede begins with Aristotle--who, he argues, had no notion of a free will--and ends with Augustine. Frede shows that Augustine, far from originating the idea (as is often claimed), derived most of his thinking about it from the Stoicism developed by Epictetus.
Do human beings ever act freely, and if so what does freedom mean? Is everything that happens antecedently caused, and if so how is freedom possible? Is it right, even for God, to punish people for ...things that they cannot help doing? This volume presents the famous seventeenth-century controversy in which Thomas Hobbes and John Bramhall debate these questions and others. The complete texts of their initial contributions to the debate are included, together with selections from their subsequent replies to one another and from other works of Hobbes, in a collection that offers an illuminating commentary on issues still of concern to philosophers today. The volume is completed by a historical and philosophical introduction that explains the context in which the debate took place.
Originally published in 2003, this book offers a comprehensive account of Kant's theory of freedom and his moral anthropology. The point of departure is the apparent conflict between three claims to ...which Kant is committed: that human beings are transcendentally free, that moral anthropology studies the empirical influences on human beings, and that more anthropology is morally relevant. Frierson shows why this conflict is only apparent. He draws on Kant's transcendental idealism and his theory of the will and describes how empirical influences can affect the empirical expression of one's will in a way that is morally significant but still consistent with Kant's concept of freedom. As a work which integrates Kant's anthropology with his philosophy as a whole, this book will be an unusually important source of study for all Kant scholars and advanced students of Kant.
This article examines the effect of political identity on customers’ satisfaction with the products and services they consume. Recent work suggests that conservatives are less likely to complain than ...liberals. Building on that work, the present research examines how political identity shapes customer satisfaction, which has broad implications for customers and firms. Nine studies combine different methodologies, primary and secondary data, real and hypothetical behavior, different product categories, and diverse participant populations to show that conservatives (vs. liberals) are more satisfied with the products and services they consume. This happens because conservatives (vs. liberals) are more likely to believe in free will (i.e., that people have agency over their decisions) and, therefore, to trust their own decisions. The authors document the broad and tangible downstream consequences of this effect for customers’ repurchase and recommendation intentions and firms’ sales. The association of political identity and customer satisfaction is attenuated when belief in free will is externally weakened, choice is limited, or the consumption experience is overwhelmingly positive.
Grotius and Locke laid the groundwork for modern ownership theories with their contractual-occupancy and labor models, respectively. Kant, once a follower of Locke, shifted gears in his mature works, ...embracing an ownership theory reminiscent of Grotius' contractual-occupancy model. However, beneath the surface similarities lies Kant's deliberate departure, challenging innate ideas-based and empirical-based ownership theories. Kant aims to reconstruct ownership on the basis of free will, purifying it from the entanglement of contingent factors. In this view, the state isn't just a guardian of citizen welfare or a necessary evil for securing labor fruits ; it must be inherently tied to the structural framework of ownership rights. This state form emphasizes civic unity and underscores the significance of public opinion in shaping this unity. Kant's reconstruction provides a philosophical basis for fresh perspectives on civic freedom and community.
In the Middle Ages, authoritative voices of Christianity condemn astrology as a kind of idolatry that denies free will. This is the reason why, since the 12th century, the revival of interest in ...astrology led some thinkers to prove its compatibility with Christian faith. This paper aims to show that this issue was addressed not only by Petrus Alfonsi’s Epistola ad Peripateticos, Raymond of Marseilles’ Liber cursuum, Michael Scot’'s Liber introductorius and the anonymous Speculum Astronomiae, as already highlighted by some studies, but also by Hildegard of Bingen’s Cause et cure.
In this study, we tested the relationship between personal agency beliefs, represented by free will, scientific and fatalistic determinism and unpredictability, and epistemically suspect beliefs ...(ESBs), including conspiracy, paranormal, and pseudoscience beliefs, across two different cultures (Türkiye and the UK). In two preregistered studies (NStudy 1 = 682, NStudy 2 = 532), we proposed and found correlational evidence for the idea that although seemingly contradictory, both forms of determinism—scientific and fatalistic—might lead individuals to feel a reduced control over their actions, prompting them towards simpler explanations offered by ESBs, thereby compensating for a diminished sense of agency. The relationship between free will, unpredictability, and ESBs varied by culture, likely influenced by the cultural interpretation of those beliefs. Our results underscore the link between personal agency and ESBs, suggesting that ESBs may act as a safeguard against eroding personal agency.
•Examined the relationship between agency beliefs and epistemically suspect beliefs (ESB).•Conducted two studies on samples from Türkiye and the UK.•Found significant associations between both fatalistic and scientific determinism with ESB.•Revealed mixed findings on the correlation between free will and unpredictability beliefs with ESB.
El artículo reflexiona sobre el recelo moderno respecto de Dios como amenaza para la libertad humana. La doctrina sobre la relación entre la libertad y la gracia sostenida por el teólogo español Luis ...de Molina presenta algunos rasgos que podrían estar emparentados con dicho recelo. La providencia divina resulta salvada en su sistema mediante una concepción algo determinista de la psique humana. Así, no se preserva del todo la libertad, pero, sin embargo, se introduce cierta sospecha respecto del poder de Dios. El autor propone empero una reflexión tomista como una alternativa para contemplar la relación entre Dios y hombre en armonía.
PDF
