The Research Seminar Series in Philosophy invites you to a eminar with Ragnar Francén, Gothenburg University, who will speak on the topic of "Free Will: Radical Revisionism and Rivalry".
All interested are welcome to attend this seminar.
Abstract
Diverging intuitions are a common source of philosophical disagreement. The debate between free will compatibilists and incompatibilists is no exception. One response to such disagreement is to deny that intuitions constrain the correct theory. Manuel Vargas’s free will revisionism exemplifies this strategy: it defends a compatibilist account as correct despite its conflict with ordinary intuitions and conceptual commitments concerning free will. This paper uses Vargas’s theory to examine a more general revisionist approach with two defining features. First, it is Rival Revisionism: it aims not merely to revise our concept of free will, but to provide the correct account of free will in competition with non-revisionist theories. Second, it is Radical Revisionism: it departs from standard intuition-driven philosophical methodology by rejecting the constraining role of fundamental considered intuitions. The attraction of this combination is that it promises to overcome intuitive stalemates by changing the methodology by which theories are assessed. I argue, however, that these two features are in tension: revisionism cannot be both Radical and Rival. Although radically revisionist and non-revisionist accounts may appear to answer the same question—“What is free will?”—their different methodological starting points make them answers to different questions. Consequently, they are not genuine theoretical rivals, but proposals belonging to different research programs.
All are welcome to attend this seminar.
About the seminar series
This seminar is intended primarily for presentations of PhD work and other research in philosophy conducted at the Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies. Guest lectures sometimes take place in the seminar as well. The seminars are given in English and all interested are welcome to attend these events.
