Robert Sapolsky, Paul Bloom, and Lucy Allais debate whether free will exists and what this would mean for punishment and morality.
If free will is an illusion, how can morality exist?
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An individual "is responsible for everything he does," claimed Sartre. And from criminal justice to creative expression, free will and responsibility are central to our culture and our personal lives. Yet neuroscientists and materialist thinkers commonly maintain that freedom is an illusion. And it remains unknown how the core principles of freedom and responsibility can be reconciled with this outlook. Many attempts have been made to argue that the two seemingly contradictory frameworks can be made compatible. But critics say these "compatibilist" arguments are unconvincing and are driven merely by the attempt to make scientific materialism acceptable. Furthermore, whilst surveys suggest most materialist philosophers believe we can reconcile the two, the majority of us reject the idea that an action can be both determined and free.
#philosophy #neuroscience #consciousness #freewill #psychology
Paul Bloom is a Canadian-American psychologist, bestselling author, and celebrated speaker. He is Professor Emeritus at Yale and a professor at the University of Toronto. Bloom’s work explores human nature, morality, and pleasure.
Joining us from California is Robert Sapolsky. Sapolsky is a distinguished neuroscientist, primatologist, and author, best known for his research on stress and its impact on behaviour and health. He is also a professor at Stanford University.
Lucy Allais is a philosopher at Johns Hopkins University and the University of the Witwatersrand, renowned for her work on Immanuel Kant. Her writing spans ethics, metaphysics, and political philosophy.
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00:00 Intro
00:32 Robert Sapolsky on materialism and the impossibility of free will
04:06 Lucy Allais on determinism, animal agency, and the Big Bang
06:08 Paul Bloom defends the freedom to make choices
10:03 Robert debates Paul on crime and punishment
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