Two essays on free will

[leblon]

Daniel Dennett's review of Sam Harris's book.

Sam Harris responds to Dennett.

I must say that Harris is much more convincing. 

Comments

[chaource.livejournal.com]

Dennett is a philosopher who likes to produce a lot of empty talk.

Harris is right: if we know what causes a particular behavior, we will control that behavior by controlling the cause, rather than by appealing to the will of the person (as is the case now). Right now most of human behavior appears to us without cause, and in order to control it we resort to talking to the human, threaten with punishment etc. But, in areas where we know how to control behavior more effectively (say, in advertising or in cases of chemically treatable "mental illness"), we always do it that way.