Volume 23, 2018
Metaphysics
Jerry Kapus
Pages 47-52
Rationality and Free Will
It is evident that we identify problems and reason about and implement solutions. Doing this involves deliberation of choices. Doing this involves rationality and free will. However, determinism tells us that this is not the case and that free will is an illusion. I think that this is a mistake, but I also think that we do not have an adequate alternative for understanding rationality in the context of free, deliberative choice. In this short paper, I sketch some problems with the compatibility of rationality with determinism, but I also argue that we are no better off with understanding free will as a necessary condition for rational action.