Free Will

Sam Harris

Mar 2012 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

From the New York Times bestselling author of The End of Faith, a thought-provoking, "brilliant and witty" (Oliver Sacks) look at the notion of free will—and the implications that it is an illusion.

A belief in free will touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement—without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. And yet the facts tell us that free will is an illusion.

In this enlightening book, Sam Harris argues that this truth about the human mind does not undermine morality or diminish the importance of social and political freedom, but it can and should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life.

Ratings and reviews

1) Sam fails to explain how and why mindless matter would prefer an illusion. 2) If nature inherently prefers an illusion, then there is nothing wherein anything can be said to be true or false including science, mathematics and physics. As Stephens Hawking argues for doing away with philosophy by making an philosophical argument called "model dependent realism" Sam Harris makes the same circular and incoherent argument to argue that free will is an illusion. How could he possibly know if indeed nature prefers illusions over objective reality? Nothing Harris says can be said to be any more true or false than any other concept on the nature of reality; thus, a self refuting piece of mindless chatter.

I was expecting more from Sam Harris. Many of the arguments are shallow and he sets up a number of straw men. I suppose this the nature of a short essay, but frankly he should have put more time into crafting his argument. Many times Sam confuses the difference between a) something causing our actions versus there being a reason for our actions, and b) understanding why we make certain choices versus being able to make choices at all. You won't miss anything if you skip this book.

I stopped reading after the 34th page. "I was thirsty so I drank water. free will isn't real because my body wanted water." yeah, but what if you choose not to get water. Your body needed water but you said "I'd rather not right now." which directly impacts the %99 of your body that is bacteria. How is that not free will? my conciousness telling my body "I'm more important right now, I'll tend to you when I feel like it." I enjoyed the book 'Lying' but I'm glad I have enough free will to not waste my time on a subjective argument.

About the author

Sam Harris is the author of the bestselling books The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, and Lying. The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction. His writing has been published in over fifteen languages. Dr. Harris is cofounder and CEO of Project Reason, a nonprofit foundation devoted to spreading scientific knowledge and secular values in society. He received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA. Please visit his website at SamHarris.org.