- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: OUP USA; Reprint edition (11 Nov 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0199764689
- ISBN-13: 978-0199764686
- Product Dimensions: 14 x 21.6 x 1.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 998,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Effective Intentions : The Power of Conscious Will
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Review
The discussion is admirably even-handed and judicious, and those looking for an entry into the recent literature on will scepticism are unlikely to find a better place to start. (Tim Bayne, Times Literary Supplement )
Review
The discussion is admirably even-handed and judicious, and those looking for an entry into the recent literature on will scepticism are unlikely to find a better place to start. Tim Bayne, Times Literary Supplement
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Mele`s shortish book Effective Intentions: The Power of Conscious Will is essentially an examination of the works on consciousness and free will by the likes of Benjamin Libet and Daniel Wegner. Accordingly, I advise any potential readers to acquaint themselves with at least Wegner`s much discussed book Illusion of Conscious Will before picking this up. One reason for this is that Mele doesn`t give much credit to either of these scientists or their conclusions. And I think the way Wegner`s views are represented here doesn`t do full justice to them.
Besides being a review of the aforementioned scientific work, Effective Intentions is also about conceptual analysis. In this, Mele does important work: scientists and philosophers don`t always use the same concepts in the same way, and this certainly muddles the interdisciplinary discussion. As usual, Mele is very thorough and detailed with what he wants to say. He uses a lot of space to defend a thesis about the efficacy of intentions in overt intentional actions which to me seems almost self-evident and certainly not very controversial, given how he defines "intentions". We aren`t worried about whether there are intentions at work in our actions or not; we`re worried about whether we acquire those intentions freely or not.
Mele`s primary conclusion is that scientists have not proved we don`t have free will. That maybe so, but I think the evidence does support the view that consciousness doesn`t do the choosing. In defending "the power of conscious will", Mele doesn`t really say what, if any, work is done by consciousness. As far as I can tell, he himself acknowledges this. What Wegner and others are arguing against is indeed a folk conception of free will, residing in consciousness and relying on cartesian dualism, not free will per se. It seems to me that Mele`s views don`t in fact differ from Wegner`s as much as he thinks they are. The essential question is about what part consciousness plays, and Mele hasn`t proved it does anything.
Effective Intentions: The Power of Conscious Will casts reasonable doubt towards Libet`s conclusions, though Mele has offered his best arguments on the subject already before this book (they are repeated here). The book`s most important contribution is in clarifying the concept of intention.
Besides being a review of the aforementioned scientific work, Effective Intentions is also about conceptual analysis. In this, Mele does important work: scientists and philosophers don`t always use the same concepts in the same way, and this certainly muddles the interdisciplinary discussion. As usual, Mele is very thorough and detailed with what he wants to say. He uses a lot of space to defend a thesis about the efficacy of intentions in overt intentional actions which to me seems almost self-evident and certainly not very controversial, given how he defines "intentions". We aren`t worried about whether there are intentions at work in our actions or not; we`re worried about whether we acquire those intentions freely or not.
Mele`s primary conclusion is that scientists have not proved we don`t have free will. That maybe so, but I think the evidence does support the view that consciousness doesn`t do the choosing. In defending "the power of conscious will", Mele doesn`t really say what, if any, work is done by consciousness. As far as I can tell, he himself acknowledges this. What Wegner and others are arguing against is indeed a folk conception of free will, residing in consciousness and relying on cartesian dualism, not free will per se. It seems to me that Mele`s views don`t in fact differ from Wegner`s as much as he thinks they are. The essential question is about what part consciousness plays, and Mele hasn`t proved it does anything.
Effective Intentions: The Power of Conscious Will casts reasonable doubt towards Libet`s conclusions, though Mele has offered his best arguments on the subject already before this book (they are repeated here). The book`s most important contribution is in clarifying the concept of intention.
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