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Robert Kane is an American philosopher, Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of Texas at Austin, and one of the leading defenders of libertarian free will. Libertarians in this sense hold that free will is incompatible with determinism and that we nonetheless have it. In The Significance of Free Will (1996) he set out a detailed account of how indeterminism in the brain could support free and responsible choice. His A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will (2005) is a widely used guide to the whole debate.
Key ideas
- Free will requires ultimate responsibility: being in part the source of one's own character and motives.
- Ultimate responsibility is incompatible with determinism, so some of our actions must be undetermined.
- Self-forming actions occur when we are torn between competing motives, and indeterminism in the brain leaves the outcome open.
- In such moments we make an effort for both options, so whichever we choose is willed and our own.
Major works
- A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will (2005)
- The Significance of Free Will (1996)
- Free Will and Values (1985)
- Through the Moral Maze (1994)
In the Book corner
- A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will
A compact textbook introduction to the free will debate by one of its leading libertarian participants, written for students and general readers.…
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Read further
- Robert Kane Wikipedia
Free to read online.