The Philosophy of Galen Strawson

(2006)

Many avoid Strawson because they feel he is so serious.

You can just about remember all of Strawson without referring to notes.

Arguments:

1. Strawson thinks free will is impossible because if we determine ourselves we must determine from outside ourselves.

2. Strawson adopts panpsychism because we have evidence of the mental, which must also be irreducibly physical.

Critiques:

Under Double-Compatibilism determinism and free will are almost interchangeable, so an argument for determinism would never have the authority to refute free will. In this view, free will is maximized when the preferences are met, which can theoretically occur without causation.

Even if panpsychism is adopted, physicsl reality may commit mental events to certain properties which may have traditional physical boundaries. For example, if someone is a telepathic ear, they may just consider hearing telepathic. The telepathic events may just reduce to normal senses and chemical noise. If there is an exceptional case it may be exceptional chemical noise filtered through ordinary senses---a genius sensation.

Galen Strawson