Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism
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Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism
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Narrated by:
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Shaun Nichols
About this listen
Do you make your own choices or have circumstances beyond your control already decided your destiny? For thousands of years, this question has intrigued and perplexed philosophers, scientists, and everyone who thinks deliberately about how they choose to live and act. For if free will makes us accountable for our choices, does the opposite hold true, that determinism absolves us of responsibility?The implications of how we resolve this great question can affect everything from the small choices we make every day to our perspective on criminal justice and capital punishment. Now you can begin - or continue - your own exploration of this fundamental issue in a series of thought-provoking lectures from an award-winning scholar acclaimed as one of the most innovative thinkers now working at the intersection of philosophy and psychology.
Beginning with an explanation of the fundamental approaches to this debate, Professor Nichols prepares you for an in-depth study of the complexities of free will and determinism. You learn what great thinkers through the ages have believed about the choices we make and understand how we might deal with their implications.
Professor Nichols looks at each side of every argument, creating a balanced perspective that invites you to come to your own conclusions about whether or not we control our lives.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2008 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2008 The Great CoursesListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- DJP OKeeffe
- 27-02-15
A superb insight into this important topic
This is an informed, authoritative and sympathetic lecturer providing a balanced and stimulating account. He has a really good tone as well. He provides the listener with numerous 'leads' should they wish to research further. Taking notes is advisable, especially for the first five or six lectures. Very highly recommended indeed.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sina Madani
- 20-06-18
A fascinating tour of the debate
These lectures cover the issue of free will vs determinism from almost every angle, from religious to physical and psychological to legal and economic. From western and eastern cultural views. I also like how the relevance of the debate is discussed at great length in the later chapters. About half of the lectures are concerned with morality, so there is a lot of content here. Overall it's definitely worth a listen, the speaker makes it very easy to follow since it's a series of lectures rather than a book.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Muzak
- 31-10-21
Case undecided.
As per usual from The Great Courses, very comprehensive and well presented course on Determinism and Free Will. I felt that the author spent a great deal of time on the moral impact of Determinism being true, which is undetermined! Apart from that, a lot of useful information for anyone interested in the subject.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Mr. John Hutchinson
- 15-11-15
fundamental philosophy
fascinating,frustrating, fun and like all philosophy just needs another 2.5k to mature. always enjoyable but unfortunately not free
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 03-09-22
Stimulating exploration of the topic from many angles
Great courses are the best.
Really enjoyed the series, listened in less than a week. Offers a really thorough look of the subject from many angles - philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, quantum mechanics… the more you learn the more you realise what a mess the issue is. There’s no clear answer which can be both frustrating but also liberating as there’s no need to take a hard stance at this stage in our understanding of the subject.
Delivery was great - I find lectures easier to listen to than audiobooks because the format is designed to be engaging to hear.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 04-09-20
Awesome
Hope we get more great courses from Shaun, interesting, entertaining and educational all the way through
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- Jens
- 12-05-23
Excellent course
Very interesting and well structured course. The voice was passionate and a pleasure to listen to throughout.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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- Greg Gauthier
- 06-03-17
Decent overview, but far too broad...
The lecturer was really interesting and engaging. He's very good at delivery. The content started out fantastic. It's a very good gloss of the basic positions in the debate, and offers some excellent exploration of the implications. However, after lecture 19, the discussion drifted far afield into questions of moral psychology and criminal justice that are, at best, only peripheral to the overall debate, and at worst a complete distraction. I would recommend this series, but only if you don't have time to read a more focused book on the topic.
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