Free Will and Theism: Connections, Contingencies, and Concerns
Kevin Timpe and Daniel Speak
Abstract
Concerns both about the nature of free will and about the credibility of theistic belief and commitment have long preoccupied philosophers. In addition, there can be no denying that the history of philosophical inquiry into these two issues has been dynamic and, at least to some degree, integrated. In a great many cases, classical treatments of one have influenced classical treatments of the other—and in a variety of ways. Without pretending to be able to trace all the historical integrations of these treatments, there is no real question that these philosophical interrelations exist and are w ... More
Concerns both about the nature of free will and about the credibility of theistic belief and commitment have long preoccupied philosophers. In addition, there can be no denying that the history of philosophical inquiry into these two issues has been dynamic and, at least to some degree, integrated. In a great many cases, classical treatments of one have influenced classical treatments of the other—and in a variety of ways. Without pretending to be able to trace all the historical integrations of these treatments, there is no real question that these philosophical interrelations exist and are worthy of further exploration. In addition, contemporary discussions contain more than a few hints of suspicion that theistic belief is adversely affecting the purity of inquiry into contours of human free will. Nevertheless, until now there has been no volume systematically exploring the relationship between religious beliefs and various accounts of free will in the contemporary domain. With a particular eye on how the former might be—either legitimately or illegitimately—affecting the latter, this collection fills an important gap in the current debate. Here sixteen leading philosophers focus their attention on a crucial point of intellectual intersection, with surprising and illuminating results.
Keywords:
free will,
religious belief,
God,
libertarianism,
compatibilism
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2016 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198743958 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: June 2016 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198743958.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Kevin Timpe, editor
Northwest Nazarene University
Daniel Speak, editor
Loyola Marymount University
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