Daniel Dennett | Why Are Most Philosophers Compatibilists? | Free Will? A Documentary

Dennett has authored numerous books on free will, including Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting, and Freedom Evolves.

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About the documentary:
Free Will? A Documentary is a feature length documentary dedicated entirely to examining the most profound debate in philosophy: Do we have free will?

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[peterramsey]

If we have freewill, when does it kick in. Did you choose to be born, no. Did you choose your parents, No. Did you choose your DNA, no. Did you choose your country of birth, no. Has a young child did you choose your school, your classmates, your teachers, your street, your neighbour's, your religion, your financial situation, etc, etc. As you can see your brain is getting programmed, well before you are old enough to make your own choices. As an extreme example. If you as a western were invited to eat a meal with a family of cannibals in deepest Borneo. I know you would turn down a meal of Grannys leg Broth. While they would tuck right in. You have been programmed one way, and they the cannibals another.

[BilboTav]

I agree with compatibilism as practical heuristic to daily life and to asses levels of responsibility. For example between child and adult.
But from detached science/philosophy viewpoint - libertarian free will with some kind of unconstrained mover inside our conscious mind (which is what most people feel as freedom of will) still can not be squared with determinism nor determinism plus any other input (quantum mechanics etc.) in my view.

[vampyricon]

I don't agree with the majority of philosophers but I can't help thinking that there must be something I've missed.

Looking forward to the doc!

[FreeWillDocumentary]

Why do you think compatibilism is the most popular view?

[rodriguezelfeliz]

I mean... is free will usefull and usefull as a concept? 1000% yes. Is it true? I honestly don't think that's very likely

[ken]

The phrase "all the good options lie in this direction" seems to me to be implying proof by consensus. The phrase "if free will is going to be something of any moral significance" seems to be implying we need to believe this in order to support our belief in a consensus of morality. In a nut shell it smacks of what we want to believe rather than what is true.

[dickgrayson]

"Men believe themselves to be free, simply because they are conscious of their actions, and unconscious of the causes whereby those actions are determined."
- Spinoza

"You are free to do what you want, but you are not free to want what you want."
- Arthur Schopenhauer

"You have the illusion of free will, but, in fact that illusion comes about because you don't know the future. Because you are a prisoner of the present, forever locked in transition, between the past and the future."
- Neil deGrasse Tyson

"How can we be 'free' as conscious agents if everything we consciously intend is caused by events in our brain that we do not intend and of which we are entirely unaware?"
- Sam Harris

"Just observe the next thought that pops up in your mind. Where did it come from? Did you freely choose to think it? Obviously not. If you carefully observe your own mind, you come to realize you have very little control of what's going on there, and you are not choosing freely what to think, what to feel, and what to want."
- Yuval Noah Harari

"The best evidence most people who fight for free will have, including neuroscientists, is how compelling it feels to be a conscious agent. But we know that lots of things that feel compelling are not actually true. Compelling is not enough; compelling isn't proof. Having a compelling intuition is not science."
- Thalia Wheatley

"Believing in free will is like our hand believing it is ultimately responsible for what it does."
- Nick Vale

"Fundamentally, free will is impossible. It doesn't matter if there is determinism or indeterminism. You can add an immaterial soul; it won't help. You can't be the cause of your self."
- Galen Strawson

[rickharold]

Always like hearing Dennett and his philosophy. Thx for sharing

[evanrobbins]

He's saying "im smart enough to know that free will doesn't exist but other people need to believe it does"

[owheydusoapsk]

He's saying free-will is the best explanation without explaining why.

[Xipotec]

Looks promising! Hope you ahev more of dennett in the full docu.

[abdurhmanmohammed]

الفلسفة حكمة الأغبياء ، ما أجمل حكمة الله في كتاب الله العزيز الحكيم .لا اله الا الله .

[waindayoungthain]

If’s there’s no mediation ways, how’s we solve the problem with that your needs only one your side🙏🏻 with your attitude right🙁.

[waindayoungthain]

How’s the world leadership going with no intuition and the most powerful to push them for power is greedily ambitious without examining what the real life needs, just for materials with the outsides proof of your greatest . I tried to find the ways for our relief to live together 🙏🏻. But I have only hope.

[truebomba]

Not to mention that this is the only "secularly correct" option.

[michelangelope]

I am a psychologist and if you don't understand what "to end the war in Ukraine the discovery that atheism is a logical fallacy has to be news" means you need a good psychologist. A great psychologist. The best. What do you understand by "to end the war in Ukraine the discovery that atheism is a logical fallacy has to be news"? I am joking? I am serious? An innocent and vulnerable kid would jump to the opportunity to end the war in Ukraine just by being news knowledge that should not be censored in the first place. Atheism is a logical fallacy that assumes God is the religious idea of the creator of the creation to conclude wrongly no creator exists because a particular idea of God doesn’t exist. I have lived long enough to know Nobel Prizes are given to friends and family and humanity would not say the truth under torture to save oneself, let alone their own innocent and vulnerable children, and when they are told they don't care. Could I know something that you don't? Is it possible to believe it is impossible to be wrong not knowing God is the creator of the universe?

[josefschiltz]

The point of the irritating soundtrack that overwhelmed Dan's words was?

[ChristopherLecky]

if for some reason someone is unable to experience the best of you, its a good indication that they should not experience you at all....its an attitude that totally removes all bias as it only focuses directly on the quality of your experiences of others in the most general way possible....! REAL TALK

[zzzzzzmc]

So it sounds like the majority of philosophers are compatibilists because it is more appealing to be so. Frankly I was hoping for more objective reasoning there, and this seems like a fairly damning condemnation of the entire discipline of philosophy.

[coachafella]

Having majored in a science discipline and minored in philosophy I would offer the obvious speculation that philosophers are less anchored to physical reality, and more persuaded by ideation. I've watched a debate between Sapolsky and Dennett, that reinforced the view I expressed above. Dennett was far more inclined to suggest arguments that I would describe as "verbal hand waving" and what seems like favoring a preferred answer, in contrast to Sapolsky's rigor, firm grounding, and reliance on detailed, extensive observation, measurement, and the actual data produced by the scientific process. I've also listened to other compatibilists and had the same impression as I did from Dennett. I would strongly recommend Sapolsky's book "Determined".