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176Free will and the mind–body problemAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 88 (1). 2010.Compatibilists regard subsumption under certain sorts of deterministic psychological laws as sufficient for free will. As _bona fide_ laws, their existence poses problems for the thesis of the unalterability of laws, a cornerstone of the Consequence Argument against compatibilism. The thesis is challenged, although a final judgment must wait upon resolution of controversies about the nature of laws. Another premise of the Consequence Argument affirms the supervenience of mental states on physica…Read more
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141Global control and freedomPhilosophical Studies 131 (2): 419-445. 2006.Several prominent incompatibilists, e.g., Robert Kane and Derk Pereboom, have advanced an analogical argument in which it is claimed that a deterministic world is essentially the same as a world governed by a global controller. Since the latter world is obviously one lacking in an important kind of freedom, so must any deterministic world. The argument is challenged whether it is designed to show that determinism precludes freedom as power or freedom as self-origination. Contrary to the claims o…Read more
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125Freedom From Necessity: The Metaphysical Basis of ResponsibilityRoutledge. 1987.Introduction No philosophical problem is more deserving of the title 'the free will problem' than that concerning the assessment of the claim that a ...
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111Liberation From Self: A Theory of Personal AutonomyCambridge University Press. 1995.This is a detailed, sophisticated and comprehensive treatment of autonomy. Moreover it argues for a quite different conception of autonomy from that found in the philosophical literature. Professor Berofsky claims that the idea of autonomy originating in the self is a seductive but ultimately illusory one. The only serious way of approaching the subject is to pay due attention to psychology, and to view autonomy as the liberation from the disabling effects of physiological and psychological affl…Read more
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102Ultimate Responsibility in a Deterministic WorldThe Significance of Free Will (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 60 (1): 135. 2000.
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88DeterminismPrinceton University Press. 1971.A revision of the author's thesis, Columbia University, 1963.
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83The Cement of the Universe: A Study of Causation (review)Journal of Philosophy 74 (2): 103-118. 1977.
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75The myth of sourceActa Analytica 21 (4). 2006.If determinism is a threat to freedom, that threat derives solely from its alleged eradication of power. The source incompatibilist mistakenly supposes that special views about the self are required to insure that we are the ultimate source of and in control of our decisions and actions. Source incompatibilism fails whether it takes the form of Robert Kane’s event-causal libertarianism or the various agent-causal varieties defended by Derk Pereboom and Randolph Clarke. It is argued that the sort…Read more
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66Classical Compatibilism: Not Dead YetIn Michael McKenna & David Widerker (eds.), Moral Responsibility and Alternative Possibilities: Essays on the Importance of Alternative Possibilities, Ashgate. pp. 107. 2003.
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63Identification, the self, and autonomySocial Philosophy and Policy 20 (2): 199-220. 2003.Autonomy, we suppose, is self-regulation or self-direction. There is a distinct idea that is easily confused with self-direction, namely, self-expression, self-fulfillment, or self-realization. Although it will turn out paradoxically that autonomy is neither self-regulation nor self-realization, it is reasonable to suppose that the former is a superior candidate. My teacher of Indian religion, Dr. Subodh Roy, blind from birth, chose not to undergo an operation that would have made him sighted be…Read more
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55Freedom as CreativityJournal of Philosophy 112 (7): 373-395. 2015.Determinism poses a prima facie problem about free will only if the latter is understood as counterfactual power, understood categorically, rather than self-determination. A key premise of the defense of incompatibilism provided by the Consequence Argument, namely, that laws are unalterable, presupposes that laws include more than the fundamental laws of physics. This premise is challenged by appeal to actual cases. The necessitarian assumptions embodied in that premise can be successfully chall…Read more
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47Nature's Challenge to Free WillOxford University Press USA. 2012.Bernard Berofsky addresses that metaphysical picture directly.Nature's Challenge to Free Willoffers an original defense of Humean Compatibilism.
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39Through thick and thin: Mele on autonomyPhilosophy and Phenomenological Research 58 (3): 689-697. 1998.
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39Hume and the Problem of Causation by Tom L. Beauchamp and Alexander Rosenberg (review)Journal of Philosophy 80 (8): 478-492. 1983.
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38Review article: Freedom and Determinism, edited by Keith LehrerJournal of Value Inquiry 3 (2): 147-156. 1969.
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22Hume and the Problem of Causation by Tom L. Beauchamp and Alexander Rosenberg (review)Journal of Philosophy 80 (8): 478-492. 1983.
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Topics in Free Will |
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