John Dupré – “Free Will in a World of Process” (Roots of Responsibility special lecture)

The second of the Roots of Responsibility ERC project special invited lectures will be given by Professor John Dupré (Exeter). The details of the lecture are as follows:

Tuesday 4 June, 17.00–19.00.
UCL Philosophy Department, Seminar Room (First Floor) [***Please note the change of venue]
19 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0AG

Title: Free Will in a World of Process

Abstract: For many years I have defended the view that, contrary to a very widely shared assumption, a radically indeterministic metaphysics does provide a way of understanding human freedom as a real and important feature of the world. I have also defended such a radically indeterministic metaphysics. However, my articulation of these views has developed in two significant respects. First, whereas I used to think of this as a solution to the free will problem within the tradition of radical voluntarism, I now prefer to present it under the rubric of indeterminist compatibilism. Second, the metaphysics in which I embed this view is now a fully processual one, and I view the human as a powerful continuant process. This metaphysical context provides a novel and satisfying home for such a view of free will.

After the lecture and Q&A session, we will have drinks and dinner with the speaker. A limited number of places is available for the dinner. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Yuuki Ohta at <y.ohta@ucl.ac.uk>.

The first lecture in this series was given by Professor Peter Cane (Cambridge). See details of it here.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Institute of Philosophy at the School of Advanced Study (SAS) at the University of London, which is co-hosting these events.