{"title":"Elbow Room","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"elbow-room-book-daniel-c-dennett-9780262527798","title":"Elbow Room","description":"\u003cb\u003eA landmark book in the debate over free will that makes the case for compatibilism.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this landmark 1984 work on free will, Daniel Dennett makes a case for compatibilism. His aim, as he writes in the preface to this new edition, was a cleanup job, \"saving everything that mattered about the everyday concept of free will, while jettisoning the impediments.\" In \u003ci\u003eElbow Room\u003c\/i\u003e, Dennett argues that the varieties of free will worth wanting--those that underwrite moral and artistic responsibility--are not threatened by advances in science but distinguished, explained, and justified in detail.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDennett tackles the question of free will in a highly original and witty manner, drawing on the theories and concepts of fields that range from physics and evolutionary biology to engineering, automata theory, and artificial intelligence. He shows how the classical formulations of the problem in philosophy depend on misuses of imagination, and he disentangles the philosophical problems of real interest from the \"family of anxieties\" in which they are often enmeshed--imaginary agents and bogeymen, including the Peremptory Puppeteer, the Nefarious Neurosurgeon, and the Cosmic Child Whose Dolls We Are. Putting sociobiology in its rightful place, he concludes that we can have free will and science too. He explores reason, control and self-control, the meaning of \"can\" and \"could have done otherwise,\" responsibility and punishment, and why we would want free will in the first place. A fresh reading of Dennett's book shows how much it can still contribute to current discussions of free will.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis edition includes as its afterword Dennett's 2012 Erasmus Prize essay.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50125327597841,"sku":"CIN0262527790VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50416772710673,"sku":"CIN0262527790G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51202649751825,"sku":"NIN9780262527798","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262527790.jpg?v=1751258972"},{"product_id":"elbow-room-book-daniel-c-dennett-9780262540421","title":"Elbow Room","description":"\u003cp\u003eAnyone who has wondered if free will is just an illusion or has asked 'could I have chosen otherwise?' after performing some rash deed will find this book an absorbing discussion of an endlessly fascinating subject. Daniel Dennett, whose previous books include \u003ci\u003eBrainstorms \u003c\/i\u003eand (with Douglas Hofstadter) \u003ci\u003eThe Mind's I, \u003c\/i\u003e tackles the free will problem in a highly original and witty manner, drawing on the theories and concepts of several fields usually ignored by philosophers; not just physics and evolutionary biology, but engineering, automata theory, and artificial intelligence. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eElbow Room\u003c\/i\u003e, Dennett shows how the classical formulations of the problem in philosophy depend on misuses of imagination, and he disentangles the philosophical problems of real interest from the family of anxieties' they get enmeshed in - imaginary agents, bogeymen, and dire prospects that seem to threaten our freedom. Putting sociobiology in its rightful place, he concludes that we can have free will and science too. \u003ci\u003eElbow Room\u003c\/i\u003e begins by showing how we can be moved by reasons without being exempt from physical causation. It goes on to analyze concepts of control and self-control-concepts often skimped by philosophers but which are central to the questions of free will and determinism. A chapter on self-made selves discusses the idea of self or agent to see how it can be kept from disappearing under the onslaught of science. Dennett then sees what can be made of the notion of acting under the idea of freedomdoes the elbow room we think we have really exist? What is an opportunity, and how can anything in our futures be up to us? He investigates the meaning of can and could have done otherwise, and asks why we want free will in the first place.We are wise, Dennett notes, to want free will, but that in itself raises a host of questions about responsibility. In a final chapter, he takes up the problem of how anyone can ever be guilty, and what the rationale is for holding people responsible and even, on occasion, punishing them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eElbow Room \u003c\/i\u003eis an expanded version of the John Locke Lectures which Dennett gave at Oxford University in 1983.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50128889217297,"sku":"GOR005953611","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52102802112785,"sku":"CIN0262540428G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53337843499281,"sku":"CIN0262540428VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":54546632704273,"sku":"CIN0262540428A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262540428.jpg?v=1750738487"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/elbow-room-book-series.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}