Derk Pereboom
Derk Pereboom (* 1957 ) is an American philosopher . He is Susan Linn Sage Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University and specializes in free will , philosophy of mind , modern history of philosophy (especially Immanuel Kant ) and philosophy of religion . With regard to free will, he takes a position that is skeptical of freedom and which he calls “hard incompatibilities ”.
Life
Pereboom studied philosophy at Calvin College and the University of California, Los Angeles ( Ph.D. 1985). He worked at the University of Vermont from 1985 to 2007 , first as an assistant professor and from 1991 as an associate professor. In 1997 he became professor and head of the philosophical institute. Since autumn 2007 he has been a professor at Cornell University.
Free will, hard incompatibilities
Pereboom rejects the idea of responsible free will and thus also disapproval and punishment for immoral behavior such as recognition and reward for moral behavior. He argues this rejection for both a deterministic and an indeterministic worldview. In his opinion, responsibility can only be justified with the initial causation by a substantial self (“agent causation”), the assumption of which, however, he considers implausible.
In his opinion, however, the rejection of moral responsibility of the individual does not make moral principles and values lose their meaning. On the contrary, serious acceptance of hard incompatibilities could improve our coexistence, since it would make moral resentment no longer possible. This would also make the prison system more human.
Works (excerpt)
Monographs
- Living Without Free Will . Cambridge University Press , Cambridge 2001 ISBN 978-0-511-03167-0 .
- Four Views on Free Will (with John Martin Fischer , Robert Kane , Manuel Vargas ). Blackwell Publishers , Malden / Oxford / Carlton 2007 ISBN 978-1-4051-3486-6 .
- Consciousness and the Prospects of Physicalism . Oxford University Press , New York 2011 ISBN 978-0-19-976403-7 .
- Free Will: A Contemporary Introduction. with Michael McKenna, Routledge, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-415-99687-7 .
Editing
- Free Will . Hackett Publishing, Indianapolis 2009 ISBN 978-1-60384-129-0
Web links
- Homepage ( Engl. )
- Original text "Meaning in Life Without Free Will" on Ted Honderich's "Determinism and Freedom Philosophy Website"
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Derk Pereboom: Curriculum Vitae. Cornell University, accessed November 30, 2011 .
- ↑ a b Derk Pereboom: Meaning in Life Without Free Will. Retrieved November 30, 2011 .
- ↑ Randolph Clarke: Agent-Causal Theories. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , accessed December 1, 2011 .
- ^ A b Erik Carlson: Living Without Free Will (Review). Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, accessed December 1, 2011 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pereboom, Derk |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American philosopher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1957 |