TrueSciPhi

Podcast Profile: Free Will Matters

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17 episodes
2020 to 2021
Median: 13 minutes
Collection: Philosophy

Description (podcaster-provided):

The problem of free will has been at the center of many discussions in western philosophy for the last 20 centuries. But in recent years the problem has reappeared in a fresh form. There are new and exciting developments in the field that make this a fascinating topic of conversation. For this podcast we have invited various philosophers who work in free will. Philosophy might be a daunting thing, but with their help we will get to know better the what, the how and the why of free will. Welcome.

Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):

➤ Free will debates • human agency and intention • moral responsibility • causation and metaphysics of action • consciousness, self-control, motivation • psychology and neuroscience perspectives • ethics, law, and bioethics • religion and theology connections

This podcast explores contemporary debates about free will and human agency through conversations with philosophers and adjacent researchers. Across the episodes, the focus is on what it means to be an agent—how intentions, planning, self-control, and conscious awareness contribute to action—and on how these everyday features of decision-making fit with philosophical and scientific accounts of human behavior. The discussions commonly connect classic questions in Western philosophy to newer work in cognitive science, psychology, neuroscience, and moral psychology, treating free will not only as a metaphysical puzzle but also as something relevant to how we understand ourselves.

A recurring theme is moral responsibility: what kinds of control, reasons-responsiveness, or “sourcehood” might be required for praise, blame, and accountability, and how debates about causation and mental explanation shape those requirements. The podcast also touches on how agency relates to practical reasoning, omissions, and the structure of intention and skilled action, including the role of motor representations and planning in organizing individual and shared activities.

Several conversations broaden the topic beyond abstract theory by linking agency to lived contexts, such as education and social deprivation, disability and inclusive communities, and religious or theological perspectives. Overall, the series presents free will as an interdisciplinary subject, introducing listeners to major figures and approaches while clarifying key concepts, motivations for caring about the problem, and common misconceptions about human agency.

Episodes: