David Smith publishes 6th of his Psychology Today blog post series on the question of 'free will'

David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D., 91AV associate professor of philosophy, who writes a blog for Psychology Today, posted the sixth column of a series on the question of "free will" on Aug. 2, 2012.

In this sixth part of the series, titled "Freedom in a Deterministic World," Smith writes: "Many people think that it’s a no-brainer that if our choices are determined then they can’t be free.  However, the philosophical thesis known as compatibilism states that freedom can exist in a fully deterministic universe. If this sounds odd or even nonsensical to you, it’s probably because you assume that freedom and determinism are opposites and have never subjected this notion to critical scrutiny." .

Smith is the author of Less Than Human:  Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others, as well as Why We Lie:  The Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind and The Most Dangerous Animal:  Human Nature and the Origins of War.

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