Tufts Mock Class: Free Will—What is it? Do we have it?
Taught by David Denby, Distinguished Senior Lecturer of Philosophy at Tufts.Free will makes you a person. Without it, you are not morally responsible for your actions, and the projects and commitments that your actions express and that give your life meaning would not really be yours at all. On the other hand, it is a fundamental presupposition of science, everyday thought, and perhaps rationality itself that every event has a cause. The problem is that universal causation seems to be incompatible with freewill. Being a person means acting freely; an intelligible world in which rational action is possible means universal causation, but we can’t have it both ways!
More from Tufts Admissions
- 3:31Tufts Residence Hall Tour: Joskar '28Joskar '28, a Tufts student from Rahway, NJ, gives a tour of his first-year residence hall, the Courts 95.
- 2:45A Day in the Life of a Tufts Student: A Grocery Run with Brooke '25Watch as Brooke '25, a Sociology major at Tufts and a student from Washington D.C, takes a walk to pick up some groceries.
- 1:56A Day in the Life of a Tufts Student: Isaac '27 Takes the Train to ProvidenceIsaac '27, a Tufts student majoring in Romance Studies and from Pittsburg, PA, takes the Commuter Rail with his friend to explore Providence.
- 1:39Wilson '27 asks the Vietnamese Students Club, "Why Tufts?"Watch as Wilson '27, a Biomedical Engineering major from Cypress, Texas, as he asks the Vietnamese Students Club "Why Tufts?"
- 2:58A Day in the Life of a Tufts Student: Brooke '25 Makes Pancakes and Talks Housing
- 18:5673 Questions with a Tufts Student (Kylie '25)Watch Kylie McNulty answers 73 questions about her life as a Jumbo!