Question About Free Will and the Problem of Consciousness
191-0091328-1091
Project Director dr. sc. Davor Pećnjak
Summary:
KEY INITIAL PRESUPPOSITIONS:Convincing arguments are given for the incompatibility of freedom and determinism. At the same time, libertarianism is supported by new arguments and that is the viewpoint that can explain the structure of human will and action in the most satisfying way, despite the arguments which aim to support hard determinism which claims that the will and action are fully determined by previous states of world and laws of nature. AIMS AND HYPOTHESES:The proposed research should show that there is freedom of the will and action if and only if an agent could have done otherwise than in fact he did, and that, at least, some actions are such that they are not completely determined by previous states and laws of nature – so they are not determined by external factors regarding the agent. The research will show that such conditions can obtain. More precise analysis of the principle of alternate possibilities will show the space of its application in judging moral responsibility. To achieve these, we shall analyse also the structure, realisation and relationships of mental states and knowledge which influence or cause willing and action. Some implications of the freedom of the will and action about individual responsibility in the context of philosophy of politcs will be shown. EXPECTED RESULTS: Articles about (1) analysis and properties of mental states (2) mental causation (3) the role of knowledge in deciding to act (4) main theories about freedom of the will and determinism (5) untenability of compatibilism (6) untenability of moral resposibility under determinism (7) special aspects of concepts “freedom” and “determinism” (8) political and social implication of the freedom of the will (9) arguments supporting libertarianism. Book about freedom of the will, action and moral responsibility. Participation to conferences. TESTING THE RESULTS: Conceptual analysis, construction of logically possible situations, examples and counterexamples and accordance with empirical findings relevant for this topic. THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH: The proposd research will give more precise analysis of concepts and arguments how the freedom of the will and action is possible, under which circumstances some actions are nevertheless fully determined and how can we judge moral responsibility. The answers about these questions are important for understanding the fundamentals about human beings.
Project assistants:
Zvonimir Čuljak
Tvrtko Jolić
Davor Pećnjak
Neven Petrović