Human free agency: (part of) a sketch
What might it mean for reason to determine the will?

Abstract:
My aim in this talk is to present a part of a bigger project on human free agency. The aim of the bigger project is to present a big picture account that brings together the metaphysical, moral/rational, and political aspects of free agency in relation to each other. The first part is about the metaphysics of the free will problem. The middle, the topic of this talk, is about rational or intentional agency. And the third part is about political freedom. The aim of the talk is to present an account of practical rational capacities that shows how the idea of acting under rational constraints gets us (part of) an account of free will, as well as to say a little about how I see this as relating to the metaphysics, especially the intuitive idea that, when the agent acts, the future is (at least in some ways) open.



Lucy Allais is a philosopher who holds academic positions at both the University of the Witwatersrand and Johns Hopkins University. Her research interests include the philosophy of Immanuel Kant as well as forgiveness, punishment, and bioethics.