Free Reason / Free Will: An Exposition and Critique of Sam Harris' Argument Against Free Will

自由理性／自由意志：對山姆．哈里斯反自由意志論據的解說與批判

威瑟爾(Leonard P. Wessell, Jr.)

《漢語基督教學術論評》 30期 (2020/12) Pp. 7-32

摘要

In the year 2012, Anno Domini, Sam Harris, an evangelizing atheist, published a short, but quite challenging book with the title FREE WILL, a power that is, he argues, but an illusion. The conscious mind, its acts of minding and its contents are revealed to be fully determined by the brain. It follows from such complete determinism that the human mind lacks all autonomy and cannot, therefore, be responsible for its thoughts and deeds. Harris' argument against free will shall be submitted to a critical examination and then to a refutation in terms of my counter theory of free reason and free will. The Task: I shall in ensuing sections consider the fundamental contradiction in the argumentation of Harris, a self-contradiction Harris must bear, if intellectual honesty is to be observed. Certainly, a contradiction in theory constitutes a fragile basis for systematic consistency. Beyond that, I shall briefly take up a few derivative difficulties attendant to his thinking and the offer a counter proposal concerning the relationship between free reason and free will.

關鍵字

will ； reason ； freedom ； necessity ； reductionism

並列摘要

在2012年，無神論者山姆．哈里斯出版了一本簡短但頗具挑戰性的著作，題為《自由意志》，他認為自由意志是一種力量，但不過是一種幻想。有意識的心智，其思想行為及其內容被揭示為完全由大腦所決定。從完全的決定論出發，人的心智缺乏所有的自主性，因此不能為其思想和行為負責。哈里斯反對自由意志的論點應該受到嚴格的審查，然後再以我關於自由理性和自由意志的理論進行駁斥。在接下來的內容中，我將考慮哈里斯論證中的基本矛盾，一個哈里斯必須承受的一種矛盾，如果要遵守知識上的誠實的話。當然，理論上的矛盾構成了系統一致性的脆弱基礎。除此之外，我將簡要介紹他的思想所伴隨的一些衍生困難，並就自由理性與自由意志之間的關係提出相反的建議。

並列關鍵字

意志 ； 理性 ； 自由 ； 必然性 ； 化約論

參考文獻

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Barnes, Jonathan. Six Lectures on Ancient Logic. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007.

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