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Book Reviews on...

Elbow Room by Daniel Dennett
Buy now

Elbow Room

by Daniel Dennett

Recommendations from our site

“Elbow Room was written in 1984 so perhaps it’s getting a bit long in the tooth. However, I selected it because it’s a really good place for readers to start if they want to work their way into the contemporary debate. In terms of style, it’s very accessible and enjoyable. Dennett is a sharp philosopher with an engaging style. The main aim of this book is to debunk or defang the feeling that determinism presents an ominous sceptical threat to freedom and moral responsibility. Dennett sees the free will problem as a problem generated by philosophy. Philosophers abuse what he calls ‘intuition pumps’ and employ misleading philosophical analogies. By these means they generate groundless worries about the implications and consequences of determinism. An example would be, ‘If determinism is true, it would be like being in prison.’ Or ‘If determinism is true, we’re like a robot, mere mechanism.’ Dennett systematically tries to debunk claims of this kind and by doing this he wants to, as he puts it, vindicate a modestly optimistic self-image” Read more...

The best books on Free Will and Responsibility

Paul Russell, Philosopher

Other books by Daniel Dennett

The Mind's I: Fantasies And Reflections On Self & Soul by Daniel Dennett & Douglas Hofstadter

The Mind's I: Fantasies And Reflections On Self & Soul
by Daniel Dennett & Douglas Hofstadter

Consciousness Explained by Daniel Dennett

Consciousness Explained
by Daniel Dennett

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel Dennett

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
by Daniel Dennett

The Intentional Stance by Daniel Dennett

The Intentional Stance
by Daniel Dennett

The Four Horsemen: The Conversation That Sparked an Atheist Revolution by Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins & Sam Harris

The Four Horsemen: The Conversation That Sparked an Atheist Revolution
by Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins & Sam Harris

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    by George Eliot

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    by George Orwell

  • The Confessions
    by Augustine (translated by Maria Boulding)

  • Plato's Republic

    Republic
    by Plato

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