The Free Will Show

In this episode, Tim Bayne explains a famous experiment by brain scientist Benjamin Libet— an experiment that Libet took to show that we have no free will. We discuss several critical responses to Libet, and Tim argues that, even if unsuccessful in his original aims, Libet has raised good questions for philosophers, physiologists, and neuroscientists to explore.

Tim's website: https://www.mmcr.edu.au/our_people/tim-bayne/ 

Libet's 1985 Behavioral and Brain Sciences paper, including peer commentary: http://philosophy.org.za/uploads_other/Libet1985.pdf

Recent paper on readiness potential by Aaron Schurger et al.: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661321000930


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This episode is the first in a new season on free will and science. Over the course of the season, we’ll have episodes covering topics in neuroscience, psychology, and physics. To kick things off with a general introduction to free will and science, we are joined by Robyn Repko Waller. 

Robyn's website: https://sites.google.com/site/robynrepkowaller/home

Robyn's John Templeton Foundation White Paper, "Recent Work on Agency, Freedom, and Responsibility: A Review": https://www.templeton.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Free-Will-White-Paper.pdf

Robyn's interview on the Beautiful Minds Blog in Scientific American:  https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-neuroscience-of-free-will-a-q-a-with-robyn-repko-waller/


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Cohosts Taylor Cyr and Matt Flummer answer listener questions about the issues and ideas brought up in Season 2 of The Free Will Show.


Asimov, Bicentennial Man
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0182789/

Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Measure of a Man
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708807/

Kevin Timpe, Free Will: Sourcehood and its Alternatives
https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/free-will-9780826496256/


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In this episode, we talk with Seth Shabo about mysterianism, the view that we have free will, but it is a mystery how it is that we have it. While not a mysterian himself, Seth explains the attractions of the view and addresses some common objections, and we end by asking Seth about his own views on free will and moral responsibility.

Seth's website: https://philpapers.org/s/Seth%20Shabo

Seth's paper, "Why Free Will Remains a Mystery": https://philpapers.org/rec/SHAWFW

If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at [email protected], via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:

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In this episode, we talk with Manuel Vargas about revisionism, a family of views according to which our ordinary conception of free will needs to be revised.

Manuel's website: http://vargasphilosophy.com/

Manuel's book, Building Better Beings: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/building-better-beings-9780199697540?cc=ca&lang=en&

P. F. Strawson’s classic paper, “Freedom and Resentment”: https://philpapers.org/rec/STRFAR-4

If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at [email protected], via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:

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In this episode, we talk with Michael McKenna about semicompatibilism (or, perhaps better, source compatibilism). We discuss two versions of the view: “mesh” theories (including Harry Frankfurt’s hierarchical model) and reasons-responsiveness theories.

Michael's website: https://msmckenna.com/

Michael's book, Conversation and Responsibility: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/conversation-and-responsibility-9780199740031?cc=us&lang=en&

Harry Frankfurt’s paper, “Freedom of the Will and the Concept of a Person”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2024717?seq=1

If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at [email protected], via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:

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In this episode, we interview Kadri Vihvelin about a recent development of the classical compatibilist position—a development that has come to be known as "dispositional compatibilism." Along the way we discuss time travel, abilities, dispositions, and much more.

Kadri's website: http://vihvelin.com/

Kadri's book, Causes, Laws, and Free Will: Why Determinism Doesn't Matter: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/causes-laws-and-free-will-9780199795185?cc=ca&lang=en&

Kadri's recent time travel paper, "Killing Time Again": https://academic.oup.com/monist/article-abstract/103/3/312/5859025

If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at [email protected], via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:

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In this episode, we ask Helen Beebee about a range of compatibilist positions, beginning with the “classical compatibilism” of Hobbes/Hume and then turning to the conditional analysis of ability,  David Lewis’s “local miracle compatibilism,” and, finally,  “Humean compatibilism.”

Helen's website: https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/Helen.Beebee.html

Helen’s book, Free Will: An Introduction: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780230232921

Helen’s paper, “Local Miracle Compatibilism”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3506084?seq=1

Helen’s paper with Al Mele, “Humean Compatibilism”: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3093706?seq=1


If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at [email protected], via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:

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This is the third of a three-part series on varieties of libertarianism. In this episode, we talk with David Palmer about non-causal libertarianism.

David's website:

https://philosophy.utk.edu/staff/palmer.php

David's forthcoming article defending noncausal free will: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11229-020-02701-4

David's book Libertarian Free Will: Contemporary Debates
https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199860081.001.0001/acprof-9780199860081

If you have a question you’d like us to answer in our Q&A episode, get in touch with us at [email protected], via the show’s website: thefreewillshow.com, or through social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thefreewillshow

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