183. Does Free Will Exist, and Does It Matter?

Does anyone have any real agency? What do McDonald’s and Oxford University have in common? And why did Angela give up on philosophy?

• SOURCES
  • Sam Harris, neuroscientist, philosopher, author, and podcast host.
  • Brian Galla, associate professor of health and human development at University of Pittsburgh.
  • Robert Sapolsky, professor of biology at Stanford University.
  • Harry Emerson Fosdick, founding minister of Riverside Church in New York City.
  • Martin E. P. Seligman, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Brian Kershisnik, American painter.
  • Plato, ancient Greek philosopher.

• RESOURCES
  • Free Will, by Sam Harris (2012).
  • Determined: A Science of Life without Free Will, by Robert Sapolsky (2023).
  • “Free Will Beliefs Predict Attitudes Toward Unethical Behavior and Criminal Punishment,” by Nathan D. Martin, Davide Rigoni, and Kathleen D. Vohs (PNAS, 2017).
  • “Learned Helplessness: Theory and Evidence,” by Steven F. Maier and Martin E. P. Seligman (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1976).
  • “Failure to Escape Traumatic Shock,” by Martin E. P. Seligman and Steven F. Maier (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1967).

• EXTRAS
  • “Final Thoughts on Free Will” by Making Sense with Sam Harris (2021).
  • “Sam Harris: ‘Spirituality is a Loaded Term’” by People I Mostly Admire (2021).