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Chapter 1 - Free Will Skepticism in Law and Society: An Overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 August 2019

By
Gregg D. Caruso ,
Elizabeth Shaw  and
Derk Pereboom
Edited by
Elizabeth Shaw ,
Derk Pereboom  and
Gregg D. Caruso
Elizabeth Shaw
Affiliation:
University of Aberdeen
Derk Pereboom
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Gregg D. Caruso
Affiliation:
Corning Community College, State University of New York
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Summary

“Free will skepticism” refers to a family of views that all take seriously the possibility that human beings lack the control in action – i.e. the free will – required for an agent to be truly deserving of blame and praise, punishment and reward. Critics fear that adopting this view would have harmful consequences for our interpersonal relationships, society, morality, meaning, and laws. Optimistic free will skeptics, on the other hand, respond by arguing that life without free will and so-called basic desert moral responsibility would not be harmful in these ways, and might even be beneficial. In this chapter, we attempt to provide a brief sketch of the traditional free will debate, define the various positions, and frame the debate over the practical implications of free will skepticism. We focus especially on the implications of free will skepticism for the criminal law and the retributive justification of punishment.

Keywords

free will skepticismfree willmoral responsibilitycriminal punishmentlegal punishmentretributionretributivismphilosophy of lawdesertoptimismfree will illusionismdisillusionism
Type
Chapter
Information
Free Will Skepticism in Law and Society
Challenging Retributive Justice
 , pp. 1 - 26
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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