Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism

By: Shaun Nichols, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Shaun Nichols

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 Courses

Great analysis and definitions of topics

Would you consider the audio edition of Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism to be better than the print version?

Can't comment - I don't have the print copy, but I will say that the audio version is excellent!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Great Philosophical Debates: Free Will and Determinism?

The author does a great job on all aspects of Free Will, Determinism, and provides the various philosophers definitions of what these two topics. Not all the philosophers define these two topics the same, this set of lectures provides the listener gives these various definitions for their pondering.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This is a great resource to listen to to get a good understanding of what others define free will and determinism.. This series of lectures FAR exceeded my expectations. This is must have if you are interested in philosophy and spurs on contemplation.

More than what I bargained for!!

Going into this title I was very skeptical but it was a philosophical debate and I had very little understanding about the subject, I found myself obsessed however listening to it almost through completion in 2 days.
I learned so much from the thought-provoking, challenging and enjoyable

it's all luck

this is a great course exciting three many theories and ideas about free will and what those thirties mean to society. I am now much more equipped to understand and enjoy the works of Aaron Rabinowitz

Why Are You Reading This Review?

Are you reading this review because of free will or have all the variables that comprise "you" lead you to read this review? Typical scientific reasoning suggests that if you knew all of the variables contributing to an outcome, then the laws of nature could predict the outcome. Why then do we think that we are the exception to this logic? These lectures tackle these types of questions.

The scope of these lectures is too vast to summarize easily. Indeed, sometimes I felt lost amongst all of the different schools of thought. The content of these lectures is approachable but advanced. It brings together many different philosophical ideas. The later lectures were more accessible as they touched on the application of these philosophical ideas to concepts such as crime and punishment, brain function, and quantum mechanics.

This is not a lecture series I would recommend to someone new to philosophy or to someone that has only a passing interest in philosophy. These lectures require careful listening and some thought. I would, however, recommend them to someone that is very interested in philosophy. I enjoyed them.

Fantastic Overview

If you're looking for an open-minded overview of determinism and free will, look no further. This series will ground and guide you through this great debate.

Superb

Absolutely fantastic. Best course yet. The instructor was incredible. The topic was timely and relevant. I feel that I benefited from this experience.

fascinating

great listen, very interesting and thorough. many different arguments are analysed and disected, giving a broad overview of the freewill debate.

A very unique/novel approach to free will!

These were very entertaining and lively lectures. I especially enjoyed some of the lectures on the history of free will. There was a heavy focus on skepticism about free will and moral responsibility.

An irritation

Any additional comments?

I no longer can listed to these titles by this publisher. The majestic horn music with the canned clapping between chapters of most of these books is somehow so distracting that is interferes with learning. It may sound strange, but the brain detects this pattern and starts to focus on the littlest repetitive variations in the clapping, time after time, which interferes with concentration. Kind if a psychological bugaboo. Gives a falseness to the production contrary to its intended purpose.

Well worth the time to listen

I've listened to a lot of courses and this one is right up there with some of the best of them. The person who complained about his stumbling over words seemed to be exaggerating. He does, but it's not enough to distract from the subject..