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This chapter is part of a book that is no longer available to purchase from Cambridge Core

Further reading: a personal top ten

Mathew Iredale
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Summary

Of course to say “I don't understand”, looking up at the ceiling with eyebrows raised in the neo-Wittgensteinian manner (whereupon the other person is supposed to have lost the argument because he is supposed to have said something meaningless), is too dangerous a matter. The only time I saw Bertrand Russell read a paper was when in the discussion one brash young philosopher tried this ploy, whereupon Russell said “I'm not responsible for your intellectual deficiencies, young man”.

J. J. C. Smart

Despite the best efforts of both author and reader, there may be occasions when one is prompted to say “I don't understand” when confronted by a certain philosophical argument. I hope that such occasions have been few and far between as far as the present volume is concerned, but when presenting such a broad range of viewpoints, especially in summarized form, it is unlikely that the reader will find every argument either equally compelling or comprehensible. For that reason, I have listed below a number of books representing a cross-section of the free will literature, which will allow the reader to hear the arguments for (and against) libertarianism, compatibilism and several other positions, straight from the horses' mouths. They each go into far greater detail than has been possible with this introductory volume and should go a long way towards answering the cry “I don't understand”.

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The Problem of Free Will
A Contemporary Introduction
 , pp. 155 - 157
Publisher: Acumen Publishing
Print publication year: 2012

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