Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will

Robert M. Sapolsky

Oct 2023 · Sold by Penguin

About this ebook

The instant New York Times bestseller

“Excellent . . . Outstanding for its breadth of research, the liveliness of the writing, and the depth of humanity it conveys.” –Wall Street Journal

One of our great behavioral scientists, the bestselling author of Behave, mounts a devastating scientific and philosophical case against free will—an argument with profound consequences

Robert Sapolsky’s Behave, his now classic account of why humans do good and why they do bad, pointed toward an unsettling conclusion: we may not grasp exactly how nature and nurture create the physics and chemistry that cause all human behavior, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. In Determined, Sapolsky takes his argument all the way, mounting a brilliant (and in his inimitable way, delightful) full-frontal assault on the pleasant fantasy that there is some separate self who tells our biology what to do.

Determined offers a marvelous synthesis of what we know about consciousness—the tight weave between reason and emotion and between stimulus and response in the moment and over a life. One by one, Sapolsky takes out all the major arguments for free will, cutting a path through the thickets of chaos theory and quantum physics. But as Sapolsky acknowledges, it’s sometimes impossible to uncouple from our zeal to judge people, including ourselves. Determined applies this new understanding to some of our most essential questions around punishment, morality, and living well together. Most of all, Sapolsky argues that while accepting the reality about free will is monumentally difficult, it will make for a much more humane world.

Ratings and reviews

Such a good book, it really makes you rethink your prescription of free will ( as intended).

We must re-write the social contract, this book is amazing.

Fascinating.

About the author

Robert M. Sapolsky is the author of several works of nonfiction, including A Primate’s Memoir, The Trouble with Testosterone, and Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. His most recent book, Behave, was a New York Times bestseller and named a best book of the year by The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He is a professor of biology and neurology at Stanford University and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant.” He and his wife live in San Francisco.