Revisionist Accounts of Free Will: Origins, Varieties, and Challenges

Abstract

Revisionism about free will is the idea that free will is somewhat different than we suppose it to be. This approach has played an increasingly prominently role in theorizing about free will. This chapter traces some of the recent history of the development of revisionist accounts among theories that are both implicitly and explicitly revisionist. It offers a general characterization of revisionism, and considers various ongoing challenges to revisionist theories of free will. This account is intended to supersede the account of revisionism given in “The Revisionist’s Guide to Responsibility” (2005) and Four Views on Free Will (2007).

Keywords: revisionism, free will, moral responsibility, metaphilosophy, philosophical methodology