An Essay on Free Will

By Peter van Inwagen,

Book cover of An Essay on Free Will

Book description

The author defends the thesis that free will is incompatible with determinism. He disputes the view that determinism is necessary for free will and argues that free will is necessary for moral responsibility.

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Why read it?

1 author picked An Essay on Free Will as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book is now 40 years old, but it continues to set the agenda for analytic discussions of free will.

It is remarkably clear and honest about the difficulties faced by the author’s preferred view, as well as all alternative views. Despite its influence, a number of the ideas in this book (for example, parallels between the free will debates and external world skepticism) still remain largely unexplored.

From John's list on defending the reality of free will.

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