Harald Atmanspacher and Robert Bishop, Editors

Are choice and free will possible in a world governed by deterministic fundamental equations? What sense would determinism make if many events and processes in the world seemed to be governed by chance? These and many other questions emphasize the fact that chance and choice are two leading actors on stage whenever issues of determinism are under discussion. This volume collects essays by accomplished scientists and philosophers, addressing numerous facets of the concept of determinism. The contributions cover viewpoints from mathematics, physics, cognitive science and social science as well as various branches of philosophy. They offer valuable reading for everyone interested in the interdisciplinary relations between determinism, chance and free will.

The desire to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue on determinism, chance and free will was the initial impetus leading to an international workshop on determinism taking place at Ringberg Castle near Lake Tegernsee, south of Munich, in June 2001. Representatives from mathematics, physics, cognitive and social science, and various branches of philosophy convened to discuss numerous aspects of determinism from their disciplinary perspectives. This volume is based on elaborated and refereed manuscripts of their lectures.

Table of Contents

• Preface
• Robert Bishop, "Deterministic and Indeterministic Descriptions"
• Gregor Nickel, "Perspectives on Scientific Determinism"
• Harald Atmanspacher, "Determinism Is Ontic, Determinability Is Epistemic"
• Olimpia Lombardi, "Determinism, Internalism, and Objectivity"
• Hans Primas, "Hidden Determinism, Probability, and Time's Arrow"
• Karl Gustafson, "Time-Space Dilations and Stochastic-Deterministic Dynamics"
• Baidyanath Misra, "Transitions from Deterministic Evolution to Irreversible Probabilistic Processes and the Quantum Measurement Problem"
• Theodoros Christidis, "Probabilistic Causality and Irreversibility: Heraclitus and Prigogine"
• Frederick Kronz and Amy McLaughlin, "The Complementary Roles of Chance and Lawlike Elements in Peirce's Evolutionary Cosmology"
• Dennis Dieks, "Does Chance Make a Difference? The Philosophical Significance of Indeterminism"
• Joseph Berkovitz, "On Causal Inference in Determinism and Indeterminism"
• Gunter Mahler, "Fundamental Limits of Control: A Quantum Approach to the Second Law"
• Daniel Greenberger and Karl Svozil, "A Quantum Mechanical Look at Time Travel and Free Will"
• Phil Dowe, "What is Determinism?"
• Charles Guignon, "Ontological Presuppositions of the Determinism–Free Will Debate"
• Mauro Dorato, "Determinism, Chance, and Freedom"
• Robert Kane, "Free Will, Determinism, and Indeterminism"
• Jack Martin and Jeff Sugarman, "Agency and Soft Determinism"
• Frank Richardson and Robert Bishop, "Rethinking Determinism in Social Science"
• Edwin Gantt, "Agency, Embodiment, and the Ethical: On Saving Psychology from Biology"
• Brent Slife, "Time, Information, and Determinism in Psychology"
• Takehisa Abe and Fusako Kobayashi, "Eastern Determinism Reconsidered from a Scientific Point of View"

· ISBN 0-907845-21-5 · Published in May 2002 by Imprint Academic · Hardback · 528 pages · $58.00 ·

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