Jamesian Philosophy Refreshed

"According to [Angelika] Kratzer, the verb 'can' in a sentence such as 'A can do B' always comes with an additional, often implicit qualification of the form 'in view of X.' This qualification, if not specified explicitly, is determined by the context in which the sentence is uttered. For example, when we talk about what is humanly possible, we might say, 'We can walk, run, and jump, but not fly,' thereby referring to what we can do by way of the constraints of human physiology. When we talk about how we get from London to Paris, we might say, 'We can fly, take the Eurostar travel train, or travel by overnight bus,' thereby referring to what we can do in klight of the available means of transport. W might add, however, 'We cannot fly or take the Eurostar, because those options are too expensive.' this time referring to what we can do in view of our financial constraints." pp. 103-04 The point in the context of free will, L...

Christian List, a professor of political science and philosophy at the London School of Economics, has a new book coming out from Harvard University Press entitled WHY FREE WILL IS REAL. It won't be available until May from HUP's promo page it looks good.  Unlike the "compatibilists," List isn't redefining free will so that it means something unchallenging. He means by free will that there are in fact alternative possibilities. I might walk down Oak Street on the way home on a certain evening or I might walk down Oak Boulevard. The alternative nature of these possibilities is not simply a matter of our ignorance of the neurological workings of my mind before I start my walk.  It is a natural fact about the world I inhabit, as I head down the street, that I could have instead gone down the boulevard.  List's looks likely to be worth a read.   I'm especially happy to observe that the HUP promo page includes a blurb from Robert Kane, my favorite con...