Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting
Written by Daniel C. Dennett
Narrated by Don Hagen
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Dennett tackles the question of free will in a highly original and witty manner, drawing on the theories and concepts of fields that range from physics and evolutionary biology to engineering, automata theory, and artificial intelligence. He shows how the classical formulations of the problem in philosophy depend on misuses of imagination, and he disentangles the philosophical problems of real interest from the "family of anxieties" in which they are often enmeshed -- imaginary agents and bogeymen, including the Peremptory Puppeteer, the Nefarious Neurosurgeon, and the Cosmic Child Whose Dolls We Are. Putting sociobiology in its rightful place, he concludes that we can have free will and science too. He explores reason, control and self-control, the meaning of "can" and "could have done otherwise," responsibility and punishment, and why we would want free will in the first place. A fresh reading of Dennett's book shows how much it can still contribute to current discussions of free will.
This edition includes as its afterword Dennett's 2012 Erasmus Prize essay.
Daniel C. Dennett
Daniel C. Dennett is University Professor Codirector of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He is the author of Brainchildren: Essays on Designing Minds; Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness; Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting; Sweet Dreams: Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness (all published by the MIT Press), From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Mind, and other books.
More audiobooks from Daniel C. Dennett
Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kinds of Minds: Toward an Understanding of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5From Darwin to Derrida: Selfish Genes, Social Selves, and the Meanings of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I've Been Thinking... Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Elbow Room
Related audiobooks
Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Idea of the World: A Multi-Disciplinary Argument for the Mental Nature of Reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Who's in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Free Will Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making Sense: Conversations on Consciousness, Morality, and the Future of Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Free Will Explained: How Science and Philosophy Converge to Create a Beautiful Illusion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Science Delusion: Asking the Big Questions in a Culture of Easy Answers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What's New with Atheism?: The Thoughtful Person’s Guide to Understanding Non-Belief Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Paradox Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Meaning to Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mind-Body Problem Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What is Life?: With Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midlife: A Philosophical Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hume’s Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Open Society and Its Enemies: New One-Volume Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ethics in the Real World: 82 Brief Essays on Things That Matter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Non-Existence of the Real World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Is Our Will Truly Free? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stone Reader: Modern Philosophy in 133 Arguments Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mismeasure of Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Myths We Live By Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The World According to Physics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Irrationality: A History of the Dark Side of Reason Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Meme Machine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Enigma of Reason Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Philosophy For You
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Living: Peace and Freedom in the Here and Now Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Courage to Be Disliked: How to Free Yourself, Change Your Life, and Achieve Real Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Tao of Pooh Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dao De Jing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book of Five Rings Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Art of Communicating Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Holographic Universe: The Revolutionary Theory of Reality Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5People of the Lie Vol. 1: Toward a Psychology of Evil Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Many Lives, Many Masters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Noticer: Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective. Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The More of Less Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life Is a 4-Letter Word: Laughing and Learning Through 40 Life Lessons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power, and Thrive Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stoicism: How to Use Stoic Philosophy to Find Inner Peace and Happiness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/512 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson - Book Summary: An Antidote to Chaos Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5People of the Lie Vol. 2: The Hope for Healing Human Evil Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Heretic's Handbook Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Elbow Room
65 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really enjoy the subjects Dennett discusses on his books. However, after reading Consciousness Explained, I think Elbow Room didn't match my expectations in some way, despite being an interesting book.This doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it. I liked it a lot, and I would recommend it for anybody interested on studying models of Mind, Consciousness and Free Will. However, I think the way Dennett presents his model of Free Will and Determinism can be easily misunderstood by some readers. If I hadn't read other texts by Dennett and Hofstadter about mind and consciousness, probably the book would sound superficial or misguided to me.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The first decent moderrn philosophical support for free will. This is shorter and easier reading than his later book "Freedom Evolves".