CHC Read and Discuss: “Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will” by Robert M. Sapolsky

Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will
by Robert M. Sapolsky

Join Zoom Meeting, Every Week On Monday
https://cua.zoom.us/j/82592362985

Location:
Church Of The Holy City
1611 16th Street N.w.
Washington Dc 20009

Time:
Mondays @ 7:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Every week on Mon, until May 6, 2024 (4 occurrences)
Apr 15, 2024 07:30 PM
Apr 22, 2024 07:30 PM
Apr 29, 2024 07:30 PM
May 6, 2024 07:30 PM

About The Book:

One of our great behavioral scientists, the bestselling author of Behave, plumbs the depths of the science and philosophy of decision-making to mount a devastating case against free will, an argument with profound consequences.

Determined offers a marvelous synthesis of what we know about how consciousness works—the tight weave between reason and emotion and between stimulus and response in the moment and over a life. One by one, Sapolsky tackles all the major arguments for free will and takes them out, cutting a path through the thickets of chaos and complexity science and quantum physics, as well as touching ground on some of the wilder shores of philosophy. He shows us that the history of medicine is in no small part the history of learning that fewer and fewer things are somebody’s “fault”; for example, for centuries we thought seizures were a sign of demonic possession.

Yet, as he acknowledges, it’s very hard, and at times impossible, to uncouple from our zeal to judge others and to judge ourselves. Sapolsky applies the new understanding of life beyond free will to some of our most essential questions around punishment, morality, and living well together. By the end, Sapolsky argues that while living our daily lives recognizing that we have no free will is going to be monumentally difficult, doing so is not going to result in anarchy, pointlessness, and existential malaise. Instead, it will make for a much more humane world.