Refutations of Determinism and Free Will
An untold number of authors have attempted to refute one side of the ancient debate by verbal arguments alone.
This is a popular pastime of analytic language philosophers who think that philosophical problems are really linguistic puzzles.
Immanuel Kant called them "word jugglers." Daniel Dennett calls himself a master of "philosophical judo." In ancient times such verbal gymnastics were known as sophistry.
Here are some choice examples;
Ayers, M.R. (1968). The Refutation of Determinism. London ;
Methuen & Co Ltd.
There is only one method for attaining this understanding, and that is by argument. (p.vii)
Evatt, Chris (2007). The Myth of Free Will. Princeville, HI ;
Cafe Essays.
Μοst people believe that Free Will exists. They experience it and feel it. They're certain they have Free Will. This book asks you to think less like most people. It asks you to learn why Free Will is a myth, a belief, and a story. It asks you to learn more about your amazing brain. (p.xv)
Sproul, R.C. (1994). Not A Chance, The Myth of Free Chance in Modern Science and Cosmology. Grand Rapids, MI, Baker Books.
This book is an effort to explore and critique the role chance has been given in recent cosmology. It may be viewed as a diatribe against chance. It is my purpose to show that it is logically impossible to ascribe any power to chance whatsoever.
It is not merely a parlor game of logic. There is something huge at stake: the very integrity, indeed the very possibility of science. (p.xiv)
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[In Existentialism, the will condemns all the unchosen alternatives to nothingness as it grants being to the one chosen.]
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