Elbow Room: The Varieties of Free Will Worth Wanting

by Daniel C. Dennett

Book Overview

Anyone 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 Brainstorms and (with Douglas Hofstadter) The Mind's I, tackles the free will problem in a highly original and witty manner, drawing on the theories and concepts of several...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262540428
• ISBN13: 9780262540421
• Release Date: November 1984
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 212 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.9" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Stretching constraints

Dennett combines clarity of thought with clarity of expression to re-introduce the question of "free will." It's an age-old topic, but Dennett's knowledge of nature gives him fresh insight in grappling with the issue. He concedes at the outset that "free will" is usually considered a topic for academics to wrangle over. One of his special talents, however, is bringing such subjects out of the scholastic arena and into everyday life. He recognizes that all of us are plagued by outworn traditions and mind-blinding prejudices. He wants us to free our minds of these restraints. From there, he hopes we will enter a future based on more rational concepts. It's an ambitious programme, but one Dennett presents with outstanding conceptual ability and skillful prose. Dennett's use of the "intuition pump" to expose the "bogeymen" that plague our reason makes him unique among philosophers. It's an analysis tool that more should emulate. More significantly it's a method we should all learn. Rigid thinking leads us down wrong paths and this work is a guidebook for avoiding that. One of the wrong paths is the idea that "free will" and "determinism" are absolutely separate - there is no way to reconcile the two concepts. Dennett shows that there are many forms of "determinism" in nature, and we are part of nature. Humans, however, have a decision-making capability the rest of nature lacks. We have "elbow room," based on our consciousness, which gives us the ability to make choices. The dividing line between what nature imposes and our mentality allows, is vague and indistinct, sometimes contradictory, but it's there. Dennett wants us to recognize, so far as we can, which is which. Dennett concedes that there's an apparent paradox in this view. If we are the product of evolutionary forces, why isn't our behaviour preset in our genes? It is, according to Dennett, but exercises only limited influence. Our complex intellect allows us to modify those natural roots and give us what we see as unlimited choices. We call this condition "free will". Dennett reminds us, however, that free will is no more an absolute than determinism. Dennett's rejection of absolutes in any guise have led to many critical assaults on his work. Yet, as almost the sole philosopher to adopt natural selection as part of his thinking, he has shown his work to be the most rationally based of all. Far from "dodging" issues, he shows how this open approach can actually lead to a firmer grasp of issues. As he points out, the issue is not a "choice" of absolute options, but "control" over the conditions. It's not just choosing which path, but perhaps the building of a new one. For Dennett, a topic such as "free will" is far from limited to academic discussion. A clear concept of what free will entails has ramifications in law, education and many social policies. He addresses many aspects of applying his definition of free will in the final chapter "Why Do We Want Free Wi

Well on the way.

Dennet's approach to free will seems to have two main thrusts. First, Dennet explains, and I think very convincingly, that even in a deterministc world our deliberations matter for the issues we expect and want them to matter to. They are part of the causal fabric and they affect the outcome.He also starts down an interesting road with regard to what determinism really means and why it might not be so bad. He points out, I think rightly, that the future is unkowable in principle for anyone (except an opmipotent being) because of chaotic effects. This means that in principle (not just in practice) even if we had all the information and knew all the laws of physics we could not predict what will happen, not be able to predict the future. So even though we will tread only one path through life (some day we wand others will be able to look back and see that path) we don't know what it will be. This is a good idea, but as Dennit admits it needs more filling in. The idea is interesting but the implications are still quite unclear to me.So we have two major threads. First, our deliberations matter (at least for some things and more likely for the things that we expect or want them to matter to) and second, the future is an unknown and therefore contains genuine opportunities. Together these ideas can actually support the seeming contradiction that even in a determined world, we have free will.I don't agree with everything in the book and there is clearly more filling ut to be done on some of the more inetersting issues, especially the implications of those issues. However, the book is entertaining, thought provoking, and sheds significant light on the issue by cleaing up some bad conceptual muddles. Also, it will be just plain good for your brain. I would recommend it to anyone interested in this question.

Dissolved--but not entirely

Compared to most philosophers and given the complexity of the arguments that he makes, Dennett is relatively easy to read and clear. Be warned though, if you are not used to reading philosophy, this probably will not be the easiest book to follow. If you are used to reading philosophy, particularly analytic philosophy, this book should be very easy for you to follow. Dennett's approach to the problem of free will reminds me of Wittgenstein's approach to traditional philosophical problems. Wittgenstein claimed that the best approach to take with many philosophical questions is to "dissolve" rather than solve them. He held that certain questions cannot be asked or at best do not make sense. The job of the philosopher is to find those questions and expunge them (This is an oversimplification but it does at least capture some aspects of Wittgenstein's philosophy). I will not lay out for you how exactly Dennett arrives at a "solution" in this book, but his method does resemble-- in some ways-- Wittgenstein's method. One can only marvel at the way Dennett presents philosophical problems. His presentation is both humorous and thorough. While reading his critique of some people who have written on the topic of free will, I often laughed out laud, given his somewhat sardonic, but at the same time, apparently accurate characterization of those writings. One last note, if you think similar to the reviewer who gave Dennett one star, be warned; Dennett is not going to directly answer the problem of how if the statement "everything that will happen necessarily will happen" is true free will exists, i.e., free will in the sense that I could have done otherwise. If you are expecting a direct answer to this, again, you could be disappointed. But then again, you could like what you read. Dennett might change your mind about what counts as free will and what counts as a valid response to the question of whether or not free will exists.

Hardly disappointing and poor...

Daniel Dennett's _Elbow Room_ is a nicely written piece on the compatibility of determinism and free will. He notes that even if the world is deterministic, there is a certain amount of freedom (or elbow room) for man to operate within. The previous reviewer who stated that "you don't have to think about it very long to realize that free will can't exist in a deterministic [universe]" has apparently missed all of the philosophical work relating to "Compatibilism," which is the very idea that free will and determinism are not mutually exclusive. Dennett presents a nice case for the plausibility of this viewpoint, pointing out why the scary thought experiments that others have created to make determinism seem so horrible cannot be reality. He also makes a clear distinction (that is sometimes blurred) between fatalism and determinism, and in questioning some underlying assumptions makes the idea of free will much more understandable. It may take some concentration to read (I am only beginning to study Philosophy and so had to read a number of sentences over before fully comprehending), but that hardly takes away from the quality of the book. Definitely recommended!

Dennett dissects the problem of free will.

Nothing can make the free will problem an easy one--but Dennett convinces that it is not necessary to give up too much in denying pure, idealistic free will. He effectively disarms our greatest fears of determinism by demonstrating what it is not in a fascinating array of metaphors and analogies, some of which are truly poetic.This book expounds that by oversimplifying the concept of causality, we have unnecessarily complicated the free will 'problem'. Free will is indeed real; however, it is not the fingerprint of a supernatural deity--it is a product of material reality.If you are bothered by the suggestion that perhaps our will is not as free as it seems, this book should set your mind at ease. If you have surrendered to the jaws of determinism, this book will set you straight. Either way, once you turn the last page, you will feel neither threatened nor constrained that something caused you to read it.