The Puzzle of Free Will: Problems in Life and a Problem in Theory

Pamela Hieronymi (University of California, Los Angeles)

Abstract:

What does it really mean to have free will?

In this engaging talk, Professor Pamela Hieronymi pulls apart two aspects of the free will debate by separating “problems in life,” such as obstacles and constraints on thoughts and actions, from a “problem in theory” that arises when trying to understand how agency itself operates.

While the “problems in life” can be avoided, theoretical questions about freedom must be addressed philosophically. Professor Hieronymi proposes we do so by expanding our too-narrow ideas about control. People often mistakenly believe they must control their own decisions in the same way they control their actions, and then find themselves concluding that we do not really control anything—we enjoy only the control of a thermostat. Hieronymi argues, to the contrary, that we control our decisions in a very different way: in the way we control our answers to questions.

Tickets available in-person and online.

Speaker:

Pamela Hieronymi is a Professor of Philosophy at UCLA working at the intersection of ethics, philosophy of mind, and philosophy of action. She is currently unwinding the problem of free will and moral responsibility in a manuscript, Minds Matter. Hieronymi also served as a consultant for NBC’s sitcom, The Good Place.