Free Will and Decision Theory '25

We are pleased to announce the workshop Free Will and Decision Theory '25, whichwill take place at LMU Munich, Germany on the 4th and 5th of July 2025.   

Workshop Description: Questions related to free will—for instance, "Does rational decision-making presuppose an ability to do otherwise?" or "Are non-trivial counterfactuals consistent with determinism?"—have obvious relevance to decision theory. Yet the literature on decision theory has largely shied away from direct engagement with free will and the literature surrounding it. With this workshop we hope to contribute to bridging that gap by bringing together decision theorists interested in these issues with scholars knowledgable about free will. We also hope that exploring these issues with the formal tools of decision theory may in turn contribute fruitfully to discussions in the traditional literature on free will.  

Confirmed Speakers: Alison Fernandes (Trinity Dublin) Christian List (MCMP, LMU) Melissa Fusco (Columbia) Reuben Stern (Duke) Toby Solomon (MCMP, LMU)  Timothy Luke Williamson (GPI, Oxford)  

Call For Papers: We encourage submissions of abstracts (500 words or less) for 30 minute presentations from decision theorists, action theorists, scholars of free will, and anyone else interested in exploring a formal approach to free will. Submissions are welcome on any topic related to both decision theory and free will. Potential topics include (but are in no way limited to):   

• Formally modelling free and unfree decisions. 
• The nature of options in decision theory; particularly in light of determinism. 
• The relationship between free will, causal modelling, counterfactuals, and decision theory.
• Self prediction in decision theory (the DARC or Deliberation Crowds Out Prediction thesis). 
• Whether a belief in free will is required for rational decision-making in the decision theorist's sense, and what this would mean for decision theory. 
• The relationship between Causal Decision Theory and Determinism; including solutions to problem cases put forward by Arif Ahmed and others. 
• Whether decision theory can be squared with a distinction between the agential and theoretical perspectives. 
• Whether the small world vs. grand world distinction is relevant to understanding free will in decision theory. 
• The relationship between the agency required by decision theory and the agency required for basic desert or ultimate responsibility. 

The submission deadline is the 1st of April 2025, but submissions will be considered on a rolling basis when received. Submissions are welcome from scholars at all levels of the profession, including postgraduate students. Unfortunately no funding is available for speakers of submitted papers.    The workshop will be hosted by the chair of Prof. Christian List and the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy.  

All correspondence, including submitted abstracts, should be directed to [email protected]