Freedom Evolves

By: Daniel C. Dennett

Narrated by: Robert Blumenfeld

Can there be freedom and free will in a deterministic world? Renowned philosopher Daniel Dennett emphatically answers "yes!" Using an array of provocative formulations, Dennett sets out to show how we alone among the animals have evolved minds that give us free will and morality. Weaving a richly detailed narrative, Dennett explains in a series of strikingly original arguments - drawing upon evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, economics, and philosophy - that far from being an enemy of traditional explorations of freedom, morality, and meaning, the evolutionary perspective can be an indispensable ally. In Freedom Evolves, Dennett seeks to place ethics on the foundation it deserves: a realistic, naturalistic, potentially unified vision of our place in nature.

©2003 Daniel C. Dennett (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Dennett is the best philosopher alive

This is one of the best contemporary philosophy books written by the best contemporary philosopher and, IMHO, the best philosopher ever.

I knew I was going to like this book

I enjoy the author's approach to our deterministic universe and the perspective of free will with moral responsibility for our own actions. As always, the author is never in your face with his beliefs and practices the art of critical reasoning better than anyone. He puts others contrary viewpoints in their most effective forms and systematically shows why they are not right and are not as effective as they might seem at first glance, and then goes on to build a coherent consistent system.

For me, I enjoy the author's writing style, but I realize it can be dense for others and the author himself refers to some of his previous writing as "obscure and difficult". I guess I like obscure and difficult when I know at the end I'll understand the subject matter better than I have ever before.

He says that "if you make anything small enough than everything will be external". By making the role of the individual insignificant you will make free will outside of the person and free will belongs within us not outside of us. Also, he says that "we all want to be held accountable for our own actions", both at the individual and societal level. That makes free will within us.

As the author steps the reader through the development of freedom, he also gives the listener some of the best takes on why homo sapiens are so different from any other species known in the universe.

Most of what is in this book seems to be covered in his other books I've read, Consciousness, Darwin's Dangerous Idea, and Intuition Pumps. For those who don't have the time to read those three books (2 of which are fairly long listens), this book would act as a great surrogate for them.

verbose

this is a good book concerning a variety of complex scientific understandings. however it was verbose and not at all straight to the point. interesting indeed. too long and repetitive. nearly painful.

Complicated, but worth it.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes. I think free will is an interesting topic. It is also third on my list of questions which are hard to answer, after the existence of God and abortion. Prior to reading this book, I had concluded that free will did not exist, but I eventually came to doubt this conclusion. To make sure that I was correct about free will's nonexistence, I read this book. After I read it, I continued disbelieving in free will, but I had stronger and stronger doubts as I came to better understand the compatibilist arguments. Ten weeks after reading this book, I concluded that the ability we have to make choices warrants the name "free will". I'm glad I ironed out the truth on this complicated issue.

Any additional comments?

This book is a bit dry in spots, so prepare yourself. It is one of those books that is hard to get through, but awesome after you finish it. Just like all of the books by Dennett. I always hate his books while I am listening to them, but after I finish I love his books and buy more.

The book is great, the narrator, not so much

The person reading this book is just not that great. He reads pretty fast and doesn't change his voice or pase as he goes, making it difficult to focus on what's being said. The fact that this is quite a technical book makes the bad narration even more consequential. Note: playing the audio book at 85x the speed makes it sound a little bit better.

Mish Mash of previous Dennett's books

What a disappointment from an otherwise brilliant author. I stopped 20 min in... the regurgitated content from his previous books, and the pissing contest with his peers, made it unbearable to keep listening. I guess it is true that new ideas only happen upon one very seldomly.

Do not buy!!

absolute trash, horrible narrator, weak points. only very loosely based on science and his main argument stems from a computer game.