A Review On The Theory Of Free Will By Galen Strawson

Free will is a philosophical concept,referring to the specific ability of rational agents to choose a course of action from many.Which kind of action is the action of free will,and the debate on the existence of free will are the core of all problems.The philosophical study of the free will is an old topic with continuous development.It not only covers the philosophical parts like metaphysics,philosophy of mind,and ethics,but also serves as the research object of other subjects like physics,theology,psychology,and neuroscience.It relates to the understanding of a series of important issues which include basic features and nature of the world,the status of people in the world,the nature,autonomy,responsibility,dignity,value of human,whether people are responsible for their actions and whether people deserve to be truly praised or to be blamed.Surprisingly,philosophers have been arguing about these issues for more than two thousand years.Almost every great philosopher has discussed it,putting forward theoretical forms like determinism,compatibility,libertarianism,which are hugely different in detail.However,today,with the rapid development in physics,neuroscience psychology and other related disciplines,the issue of free will has become the focus of Western philosophers.As a more important philosopher in the field of modern and contemporary analytic philosophy,G Strawson has also made his explorations into this issue;he equated"whether there is free will",to "whether can we bear the true moral responsibility for our choice or action".At the same time,he pointed out that to bear true moral responsibility for our choice or action necessarily demand that we are "causa sui",however,he believed"causa sui" is impossible,so there is no freedom.Based on this position,he made a lot of arguments about his basic views,pointing out the theoretical defects in the theory of compatibility and libertarianism and difficulties facing them.On this basis,he gave his own answer to the various questions involved in free will.It is worth noting that he believed that the discussion of free will can only be superficial and shallow without delving into the cognitive phenomenological problems of free will.Thus,in his book Freedom and Blief,he conducted an in-depth examination of the causes,characteristics and outcomes of the experience of free agenthood and built his unique theory.Therefore,paying attention to Strawson’s theory of free will is significant.For one thing,it is of practical significance for deep reflection and reconstruction of our world view,outlook on life and values through further understanding of free will.For another,it has a strong academic significance in enriching and developing the theory of free will of philosophy in Marxism in China.