Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and the Desire to Be a God

By Bruce N. Waller

Free Will, Moral Responsibility, and the Desire to be a God explores the hidden corridors of the moral responsibility system to discover why that system is so widely accepted and passionately defended. The moral responsibility system has obvious charms: it provides justification for our powerful strike-back motives, transforms selfishness into the virtuous defense of our justly deserved special benefits, draws a radical distinction between humans and the other species we exploit, and protects our nonconscious belief in a just world. Those charms notwithstanding, the resilience and endurance of the moral responsibility system indicates a hidden force that not only binds together the pieces of the system but also motivates our stubborn devotion to that system. That hidden force is a nonconscious desire to be a god: a desire that afflicts both believers and atheists, and that is almost universally denied (Nietzsche being a special exception). That desire can be found throughout the history of philosophy, from Aristotle to the present. It is also manifested in myths and a variety of religious practices and teachings. The breadth, power and harm of nonconscious "apotheosis aspiration" is the focus of this study.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1793632642
• ISBN13: 9781793632647
• Release Date: September 2020
• Publisher: Lexington Books
• Length: 186 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"