FREE WILL AND HUMAN AGENCY: 50 PUZZLES, PARADOXES, AND THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS In this new kind of entrée to contemporary discussions of free will and human agency, Garrett Pendergraft collects and illuminates 50 of the most relevant puzzles, paradoxes, and thought experiments. As- suming no familiarity with the philosophical literature on free will, each chapter describes a case, explains the questions that it raises, briefly summarizes some of the key responses to the case, and pro- vides a list of suggested readings. Every chapter is accessible, succinct, and self-contained. The puzzles are divided into five broad categories: the threat from fatalism, the threat from determinism, practical reason, social dimensions, and moral luck. Entries cover topics such as the grandfather paradox, theological fatalism, the consequence argument, manipulation arguments, luck arguments, weakness of will, action explanation, addiction, blame and punishment, situationism in moral psychology, and Huckleberry Finn. Free Will and Human Agency is an effective and engaging teaching tool as well as a handy resource for anyone interested in exploring the questions that have made human agency a topic of perennial philosophical interest. Key Features: • Though concise overall, offers broad coverage of the key areas of free will and human agency. • Describes each imaginative case directly and in a memorable way, making the cases accessible and easy to remember. • Provides a list of suggested readings for each case. Garrett Pendergraft is Blanche E. Seaver Professor of Philosophy at Pepperdine University. His research focuses on understanding and responding to various threats to free will and moral responsibility. PUZZLES, PARADOXES, AND THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PHILOSOPHY Imaginative cases—or what might be called puzzles, paradoxes, and other thought experiments—play a central role in philosophy. This series offers students and researchers a wide range of such imaginative cases, with each volume devoted to fifty such cases in a major subfield of philosophy. Every book in the series includes: some initial background information on each case, a clear and de- tailed description of the case, and an explanation of the issue(s) to which the case is relevant. Key responses to the case and sug- gested reading lists are also included. Recently published volumes: EPISTEMOLOGY FREE WILL AND HUMAN KEVIN MCCAIN AGENCY GARRETT PENDERGRAFT Forthcoming volumes: AESTHETICS PHILOSOPHY OF MICHEL-ANTOINE LANGUAGE XHIGNESSE MICHAEL P. WOLF ETHICS PHILOSOPHY OF MIND SARAH STROUD AND TORIN ALTER, AMY KIND, DANIEL MUÑOZ AND CHASE B. WRENN BIOETHICS METAPHYSICS SEAN AAS, COLLIN O’NEIL, SAM COWLING, WESLEY AND CHIARA LEPORA D. CRAY, AND KELLY TROGDON For a full list of published volumes in Puzzles, Paradoxes, and Thought Experiments in Philosophy, please visit www.routledge. com/Puzzles, Paradoxes, andThoughtExperimentsinPhilosophy/ book-series/PPTEP FREE WILL AND HUMAN AGENCY: 50 PUZZLES, PARADOXES, AND THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS Garrett Pendergraft Cover image: Anselm Schwietzke / EyeEm / Getty Images First published 2023 by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 and by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Garrett Pendergraft The right of Garrett Pendergraft to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this title has been requested ISBN: 978-0-367-64757-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-64194-8 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-12611-9 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003126119 Typeset in Bembo by codeMantra CONTENTS Preface ix Part I: Fatalism and Other Sources of Existential Angst 1 1 The Garden of Forking Paths 3 2 Tomorrow’s Sea Battle 8 3 A Date with Destiny 14 4 Stranger than Fiction 19 5 The Trouble with Time Travel 25 6 Does Deliberation Require Uncertainty? 30 7 One Box or Two? 35 8 Does Divine Foreknowledge Undermine Our Freedom? 40 9 Fatalism in the Courtroom 46 Part II: The Threat from Determinism(s) 51 10 “The Genesis Tub” 54 11 Swerving Atoms 59 vi CONTENTS 12 Fear of Snakes 63 13 Incompatibilist Mountain 68 14 An Impossible Feat of Engineering 72 15 Can Elwood Buy an Edsel? 78 16 The Nefarious Neurosurgeon 83 17 The Avalanche 88 18 The Broken Steering Wheel 93 19 Shark-Infested Waters 98 20 Professor Plum’s Unfortunate Upbringing 102 21 Rolling Back and Replaying the Universe 107 22 Surveying the Folk 112 23 Metaphysical Flip-Flopping 117 24 The Fundamental Free Will Puzzle? 122 Part III: Practical Reason 127 25 Freedom to Choose the Good 129 26 Is Conscious Choice an Illusion? 134 27 The Daily Wavester 139 28 Reading Emma 143 29 Competing Sets of Reasons 147 30 The Captain in the Storm 152 31 One Thought too Many? 157 32 The Anxious Mountaineer 161 33 Acting against Better Judgment 165 34 An Impossible Intention? 169 Part IV: Social Dimensions 175 35 A Hierarchy of Desires 177 36 The Conflict between Desires and Values 182 37 Can Addiction Be Excused? 186 38 Escaping the Strains of Involvement 192 vii CONTENTS 39 Hypocritical Blame 197 40 The Troubling Case of Robert Harris 202 41 Problems with Pre-punishment 207 42 The Unfortunate Fawn 212 43 Do Social Agents Exist? 217 Part V: Moral Luck 223 44 Is Anything Really Under Our Control? 225 45 The Unfortunate Taxi Driver 230 46 How Important Is Character in Explaining Behavior? 234 47 The Industrious Philosopher(s) 240 48 JoJo, Son of Jo 245 49 Huck Finn Does What He Thinks Is Wrong 250 50 A Herd of Wild Pigs 255 Index 259 PREFACE Reflection upon free will (and human agency more broadly) is almost guaranteed to produce puzzlement and consternation. It is one of the most accessible subjects of philosophical reflection, and yet at the same time one that remains mysterious even to experts. Thus it is only appropriate that we examine free will and human agency in light of this natural and persistent puzzlement. This book brings together 50 puzzles, paradoxes, and thought experiments, each of which repre- sents both the satisfactions and struggles of thinking about human agency. The entries are grouped thematically, but they can be read in any order. Each chapter stands alone, but there are also numerous cross-references so that readers can pursue a particular interest or pick up additional context as needed. Each chapter begins with an accessible presentation of the puzzle, paradox, or thought experiment and also includes a brief discussion of some of the different engagements with it in the philosophical litera- ture. The chapter then ends with a short list of recommended readings for those who want to dive a little deeper. This book is designed to be useful both as a textbook and for individual study. It could serve as the primary text in a course focused on free will, or as one of several texts in an introductory course. In a lower-level course, the chapters themselves might be enough; in an