Do human beings possess free will? Are all events causally determined by prior events? Is free will incompatible with determinism? Philosophers and scholars have long pondered these questions, and the debate has continued to evolve in recent years.
In his book, Mark Balaguer sets out to argue for a novel view of free will by examining traditional formulations of the philosophical question and positing a new and improved one. Central to his thesis is that the metaphysical issue in the problem of free will and determinism boils down to a straightforward, wide open empirical question. In Why There Are No Good Arguments for or against Determinism (or Any Other Thesis That Would Establish or Refute Libertarianism): A BIT of Free Will as an Open Scientific Problem, Mark Balaguer brings us closer to his conclusion.
Philosophy in Review gives this fine assessment of Mark Balaguer’s work:
“Genuinely novel contributions to the free will debates are few and far between. Genuinely novel contributions that are also powerful and persuasive are much rarer still. Mark Balaguer’s new book is all these things and more besides…this book represents a real advance in the free will debate.”