Understanding the Free-Will Controversy: Thinking through a Philosophical Quagmire
Ebook
What is free will and do humans possess it? While these questions appear simple they have tied some of our greatest minds in knots over the millennia. This little book seeks to clarify for an audience of educated non-specialists some of the issues that often arise in philosophical disputes over the existence and the nature of human free will. Beyond that, it proposes a particular solution to the puzzles. Many philosophers have argued that free will is incompatible with determinism, and many have also argued that it is incompatible with indeterminism. So, is free will simply an incoherent concept? Talbott argues that the best way out of this quagmire requires that we come to appreciate why certain conditions essential to our emergence as free moral agents--conditions such as indeterminism, ignorance, and a context of ambiguity and misperception--are themselves obstacles to a fully realized freedom. For a fully realized freedom requires that, as minimally rational individuals, we have learned some important lessons for ourselves; and once these lessons have been learned, some of our freest choices may be such that we could not have chosen otherwise because so choosing would then seem to us utterly unthinkable and irrational.
“In this short but rich book, Thomas Talbott brings considerable
insight to bear on a perennial set of issues in philosophy. It is a
book with many virtues. Talbot deftly summarizes a large swath of
recent work on the metaphysics of free will and philosophy of
religion. But he also develops an original model for the essence of
moral freedom and a compelling defense of the compatibility of
God’s foreknowledge with human freedom. Highly recommended.”
—Kevin Timpe, Calvin College
“Thomas Talbott is the leading philosophical defender of
theological universalism—the claim that all people are ultimately
reconciled to God. In arguing for universalism, Talbott has
developed important and enlightening views on the nature of free
will. Understanding the Free-Will Controversy is, therefore,
a welcome textbook on the subject and is the best introduction to
the topic on the market. Talbott presents all views clearly and
fairly but doesn’t shy away from taking controversial positions.
Highly recommended!”
—Thomas D. Senor, University of Arkansas
“It is often assumed that in order to be free in any given
situation, one must always have the ability to act otherwise.
Professor Talbott analyzes this premise in a way which is valuable
independently of the dispute between theists and atheists.”
—David Artman, author of Grace Saves All: The Necessity of
Christian Universalism
- Title: Understanding the Free-Will Controversy: Thinking through a Philosophical Quagmire
- Author: Thomas Talbott
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781725268388, 9781725268371, 172526837X, 9781725268364, 1725268361, 1725268388
- Resource ID: LLS:9781725268388
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-11T16:22:34Z
Thomas Talbott is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Willamette University, Salem, Oregon. He is best known for his advocacy of Trinitarian Universalism. Due to his book The Inescapable Love of God and other works he is one of the most prominent Protestant voices today supporting the idea of universal salvation.