In a scathing review of Sam Harris’ pamphlet Free Will , Daniel Dennett rightfully calls out Harris for some obvious missteps that Harris has taken (once again). Harris responds here.
Though I am more aligned with incompatibilism these days, Harris again makes some serious missteps in his response. First, he forwards his compatibilist thesis with regards to deontic evaluations and appropriate emotional feelings and both determinism and indeterminism. I have already shown where Harris goes wrong here. He makes further errors in his response to Dennett regarding moral responsibility. But, unlike Dennett and Harris, I have a dissertation to write so I will have to show the problems with Harris’ argument another time (in the near future). I gave my review of his book here, and hope to respond to his latest tirade sooner than later.
As a quick side note: the position Harris is forwarding sounds eerily similar to the arguments advanced by Derk Pereboom in (1995) and (2001). He says he’s not a hard determinist. He’s right. He his a ‘Hard Incompatibilist’, (he doesn’t seem familiar with the terminology).The term was coined by Pereboom and flushed out in great detail in his 2001 book, nearly 10 years before Harris published his pamphlet.
(Thanks to Pawel for the heads up on the Harris response.)
A Philosopher's Take 
kbhattacharya
June 9, 2014
The problem with doing more reading is that Einstein’s question about free will is unanserable.
Einstein said “Honestly, I cannot understand what people mean when they talk about the freedom of the human will. I have a feeling, for instance, that I will something or other; but what relation this has with freedom I cannot understand at all. I feel that I will to light my pipe and I do it; but how can I connect this up with the idea of freedom? What is behind the act of willing to light the pipe? Another act of willing?”
Einstein’s enormous stature needn’t distract us from the force of his point, nor does the point get any stronger by his name being attached to it. His point is unanswerable. You can have a conscious intention arise in the mind, and you can act on it and make that intention happen, but the source of this intention, and why you are moved by it, is beyond your control. This means that free will is an illusion. All of the philosophers who say “but wait, that’s not what I mean by free will” are merely playing a game with words.
LikeLike
Justin
August 9, 2016
Hi could someone help me?? I posted this question to countless others and just want rto know your take. Since ive already emailed others i will just copy and paste it into this chat. Hi, my name is Justin. I am contacting you because you have a different view on the subject of free will than sam harris and i am so glad to have found someone who does! I dont want to overload you in this message so i will try to keep it short. For the last 2 years i have been in a rut because i came across sam harris and all of this free will determinism stuff. I was able to control my thoughts, emotions, actions, and just had a much more wonderful outlook on life. Like literally i was chasing my goals and sticking to my diet and controlling my ocd etc… But once i came across sam and his book and stuff i kind of feel like i lost it all and i havent been the same since. So that is why im glad i found your articles because not only do you challenge his outlook like many others but you also hold credentials behind your name as well. I consider myself an extreme layperson. So im asking you if you can tell me in the most layperson way possible do we have control over our minds, and the power to you know do anything we set our minds to at any given moment. Do things like willpower exist? I know i might sound a bit crazy but i really just want to know from someone who knows alot about our brains like sam claims he does. Because its heartbreaking for me to still see others have fun and chase their goals and succeed all while i feel like im just a shell of my former self. And i also want to know if you can tell me in most layperson way possible because i feel like maybe the reason im like this is because i dont understand sam and the way he put his argument. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. I also am letting you know im going to try to contact others a s well with this question. Im not a troll im just desperate for answers. Thanks again-Justin.
LikeLike