This book brings together twelve original contributions by leading scholars on the much-debated issues of what is free will and how can we exercise it in a world governed by laws of nature. Which conception of laws of nature best fits with how we conceive of free will? And which constraints does our conception of the laws of nature place on how we think of free will? The metaphysics of causation and the metaphysics of dispositions are also explored in this edited volume, in relation to whether they may or may not be game-changers in how we think about both free will and the laws of nature. The volume presents the views of a range of international experts on these issues, and aims at providing the reader with novel approaches to a core problem in philosophy. The target audience is composed by academics and scholars who are interested in an original and contemporary approach to these long-debated issues. Chapters [2] and [4] are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

One of the most remarkable philosophers of the early 20th century, Henri Bergson attempted to blend the new understandings of biological sciences with concepts of human consciousness in such books as 1907's Creative Evolution. With this extraordinary work, first published in French in 1889, Bergson anticipates Einstein's theory of relativity and the coming revolution in theoretical physics with his exploration of free will as a function of time. Time and Free Will-first translated in English by FRANK LUBECKI POGSON (d. 1910) in 1910-served as Bergson's doctoral thesis, and offered the foundations of his highly influential theory of "Duration," a defense of free will that solves the "problems" with the concept that previous philosophers had encountered with it. Students of modern philosophy and high-end physics alike will find this a challenging but rewarding read. French philosopher HENRI BERGSON (1859-1941) was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1927, and is said to have influenced thinkers such as Marcel Proust, William James, Santayana, and Martin Heidegger. Among his works are Matter and Memory (1896), An Introduction to Metaphysics (1903), and The Two Sources of Morality and Religion (1932).

This volume offers a fresh exploration of the parts–whole relations within a power and among powers. While the metaphysics of powers has been extensively examined in the literature, powers have yet to be studied from the perspective of their mereology. Powers are often assumed to be atomic, and yet what they can do—and what can happen to them—is complex. But if powers are simple, how can they have complex manifestations? Can powers have parts? According to which rules of composition do powers compose into powers? Given the centrality of powers in current scientific as well as philosophical thought, recognizing and understanding the ontological differences between atomic and mereologically complex powers is important, for both philosophy and science. The first part of this book explores how powers divide; the second part, how powers compose. The final part showcases some specific study cases in the domains of quantum mechanics and psychology. Powers, Parts and Wholes will be of interest to professional philosophers and graduate students working in metaphysics, philosophy of science and logic.

This volume seeks to further the use of formal methods in clarifying one of the central problems of philosophy: that of our free human agency and its place in our indeterministic world. It celebrates the important contributions made in this area by Nuel Belnap, American logician and philosopher. Philosophically, indeterminism and free action can seem far apart, but in Belnap’s work, they are intimately linked. This book explores their philosophical interconnectedness through a selection of original research papers that build forth on Belnap’s logical and philosophical work. Some contributions take the form of critical discussions of Belnap's published work, some develop points made in his publications in new directions, and others provide additional insights on the topics of indeterminism and free action. In Nuel Belnap’s work on indeterminism and free action, three formal frameworks figure prominently: the simple branching histories framework known as "branching time;" its relativistic spatio-temporal extension, branching space-times; and the “seeing to it that” (stit ) logic of agency. As those frameworks provide the formal background for the contributed papers, the volume introduction gives an overview of the current state of their development. It also introduces case-intensional first order logic (CIFOL), a general intensional logic offering resources for a first-order extension of the mentioned frameworks and a recent research focus of Belnap’s. The volume also contains an extended biographical interview with Nuel Belnap.

Common sense tells us that we are morally responsible for our actions only if we have free will -- and that we have free will only if we are able to choose among alternative actions. Common sense tells us that we do have free will and are morally responsible for many of the things we do. Common sense also tells us that we are objects in the natural world, governed by its laws. Nevertheless, many contemporary philosophers deny that we have free will or that free will is a necessary prerequisite for moral responsibility. Some hold that we are morally responsible only if we are somehow exempt from the laws of nature. Causes, Laws, and Free Will defends a thesis that has almost disappeared from the contemporary philosophical landscape by arguing that this philosophical flight from common sense is a mistake. We have free will even if everything we do is predictable given the laws of nature and the past, and we are morally responsible whatever the laws of nature turn out to be. The impulses that tempt us into thinking that determinism robs us of free will spring from mistakes -- mistakes about the metaphysics of causation, mistakes about the nature of laws, and mistakes about the logic of counterfactuals.

A study in "intermediate" metaphysics combining elements of empiricism, analysis, and partial skepticism with a systematic account of nature, man, and God. The book concludes with a conative interpretation of mysticism.

This book explores the theological power of film and seeks to render a properly theological account of cinematic art. It considers: What theology and theological practice does cinematic art give rise to? What are the perceptual and affective potentials of film for theology, and what, if anything, is theological about the cinematic medium itself? The author argues that film is a fundamentally embodied art form, a haptic and somatic medium of perception-cum-expression. This, combined with the distinct temporal aesthetic of film, invests cinema with profound theological potentials. The chapters explore these potentials through theological-cinematic analysis, emphasising the themes of encounter, embodiment, time, and contemplation, as well as three intimately connected doctrines of Christian theology: creation, incarnation, and eschatology. Throughout the book, the films and writings of the Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky emerge as a singular illustration of the theological power of film, becoming a crucial resource for theologicalcinematic analysis.

Economic theory in its neoclassical form is sometimes regarded as free from values; it is simply the theory of economic exchange. This can only hold true if we accept the idea of "Homo Economicus" and the equilibrium economy. But in the real world, away from neoclassical models, there is no intrinsic stability as such. Instead, stability is created by the surrounding social, cultural and political structures. Clearly, it is imperative that ethics features in the analysis of these economic and socio-political structures. Drawing on Aristotle, Kant, Hume and others, this book conceptualizes the analysis of ethics and economic and social structures. It first considers the key philosophical underpinnings and categories which frame the discussion of ethics in economic theory and then considers individual ethics, social action, financial structures and war. Throughout, ethics are examined in a multicultural context with structural complexities, and the difficulties in finding a coherent set of ethics which provides social cohesion and an open society are considered. A key part of this is the comparison of two ethical principles which can be adopted by societies: ius soli or loyalty to constitution, and ius sanguinis or loyalty to "Blood and Soil". The latter is argued to lead to problems of Us and the Other. Introducing the possibility of integrating microscopic ethics into socio-political structures and proposing the eventual existence of a global ethics, this volume is a significant contribution to the emerging literature on economics, social structures and ethics. It will be of particular interest to those working in business and public administration and who have an education in socio-economic areas, but it also has a broad appeal to students and academics in the social sciences.

Are you free, or are you a machine that suffers from a delusion that it's free? Free will is perhaps the most important subject of all because if we are authentically free, scientific materialism is ipso facto false, and the world is in urgent need of a revolutionary paradigm shift. This book shows that free will has a most unexpected advocate – mathematics. Only in a mathematical universe can we be free. Only in a mathematical universe can we have a soul. And in a mathematical universe, free will is much better understood as will to power, and to have an intimate connection with cosmic symmetry and "God". It's all in the math!

Important Information and Presentation: Our book is free. The whole book can be read in “Free Sample” section. It is not necessary to give your credit card information. You can download our book in word or pdf format from the following web addresses: goo.gl/hNIUou or yadi.sk/d/09r41tL9ecYUA You can download the text of our book and its visual/interactive versions from the folder of “The Truth of Divine Determining and Free Will” in “English Books” section in this address. Besides, you can view or download the files of all of our books, and videos, texts and PowerPoint presentations of our seminars altogether or one by one, from these storage spaces where all of our work on Risale-i Nur (Treatise of Light) are uploaded. In Google Books and Google Play, it is not possible to open and view the links and videos just by clicking them. We suggest that you download the Pdf files from the address we provide before or from Google Books and read them. Our Website for Journeys of Discovery Risale-i Nur (Treatise of Light) Training Program http://www.kesifyolculuklari.com http://www.risaleinuregitimprogrami.com Alternative Website: http://www.risaleinuregitimprogramidotcom.wordpress.com Web address of our YouTube Video Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/EdizSözüer BOOK PRESENTATION: “The Truth of Divine Determining and Free Will” Text Version Risale-i Nur (Treatise of Light) Training Program We would like you to accompany us in this mental journey of discovery. There is only one fixed price for a ticket of the Journey: A strong sense of wonder in the search for truth. In this book, which is an explanatory work based on the "26th Word", that is, the Treatise of Divine Determining (Qadar)" of Risale-i Nur, the issue of "how to differentiate between the Divine Determining and free will" is addressed; and the evidences as to the fact that "things could take place only with the will of Allah" are dealt with. In addition, the questions related to the fact that "Qadar" does not give anybody any discomfort or strain, on the contrary it provides a perfect ease of mind and convenience and to the reconciliation of the ugliness of the troubles/evils that we see in the world with the fact that "everything coming from Qadar is good” are answered with such a proficiency that has not been witnessed in the history of Islam. In this book, you will see the explanations in relation to the essence of Qadar and Free Will; how they could be reconciled, the meaning of the belief in Qadar for human life, and the evidences of the existence of Qadar. Moreover, you will witness the harmonious friendship of a persuasive, crystal clear and fluent style with the logical inferences satisfying both mind and the heart. This work is part of our source book “Journey of Discovery for an Extraordinary Treasure: Risale-i Nur Training Program”, over which our “Journeys of Discovery Risale-i Nur Training Program” is based and it is “The Truth of Divine Determining and Free Will”, which is the “Fifth Truth” of the six “truths” in that Book’s the second part called “Proving the Treasury of Faith with Evidences” We strongly suggest and present this book to those who regularly read Risale-i Nur as well as to those who want to get some information for the first time. The epilogue of our book which is entitled “Your Journey Just Begins Now!” is also included in this work as it contains emotional, striking and impressive points coming sincerely from the deepest parts of our hearts about the reading of Risale-i Nur and attendance to the Risale-i Nur Lectures. We have to state and admit the following sincerely: although we did not have any idea about what to write before explanatory notes came into the being, (every time without any exception) , we were astonished by the resultant texts and realized that we had never understood these issues this clear before. While controlling the texts, we had great joy and pleasure and we were reading the texts as if they were written by someone else. The writings were helping us, in an unexpected way, in overcoming our greatest distresses, giving us a strong state of faith. Because, what we were writing was talking about eternal truths of faith and Quran and they were having such qualities which were having much more different than a work presented with the individual proficiency and capability of a person. Therefore, the beauty and the excellence of these truths must have been reflected in our word as well. For sure, we were pursuing an immensely difficult and tedious effort; sometimes it was taking 3-5 hour to complete 1-2 pages of explanatory notes. We were spending an equal amount of time for footnotes and the glossary of concepts. But, the feeling of joy, happiness and spiritual satisfaction were exceedingly worth this effort. At this stage, we realized and felt the reason behind Bediüzzaman’s saying: “I am also a student of Risale-i Nur. I am your classmate in learning the Teachings of Quran, I am also in need of Risale-i Nur.” And we understood that he was not trying to be humble while saying this. Although we had an humble purpose of “conducing to a higher level of our comprehension than the reader could get on his or her own, we achieved better results than our expectations. All praise is due to Allah, so we praise him. In deed our share is only that of praising. Now if you look at our personality, you may not see much value. This is normal, because neither could we see any. What we see is just this: our weakness in our distressed search, our needs, our sincere wishes and our actual prayers (prayers supported with actions). As a requirement of being a human, we wanted to share what we had found and felt, with those who had the same needs and who were in the same search. This is what we mean when we say that we are not like a teacher who makes you sit before her and starts teaching you. Maybe rather we are like a guest who himself is entreated a dining table as he is as hungry and needy as everybody, and he is sincerely inviting you to this dining table. Or maybe we are like a curious kid, who has found the key of a magnificent and inexhaustible treasure, and who wants to inform others of its existence and share it with them. BOOK INDEX * Journeys of Discovery Risale-i Nur (Treatise of Light) Training Program, Based on Academic Work and Supported by Visuals * Declaration on Copyright All Kinds of Free Usage, the Right to Print and Publish * Let’s Get Acquainted with the Books Discovering The Secret of The Universe! The Truth of Divine Determining and Free Will (Belief in Fate, Qadar) Sub Headings: * A Healthy Approach to the Matters of Qadar and Free Will * How can We Reconcile Divine Determining with Free Will? * Nature of Free Will * What is the Meaning of Everything Being Determined by Allah’s Will? * What Does It Mean If Everything about Divine Determining is Good and Beautiful? Additional Sections * Looking at Allah from the Right Side * Is the Movement of Particles An Explanation for Everything? * No Production Is Possible without Moulds! * How Is Everything Taking Place with Divine Power? * Divine Information Repository * An Illogical Fiction * Production of Living Beings from a Single Centre * The Source of An Amazing Feeling of Confidence * The Solution for Death-Introductory Text The Companies of Road for Your Personal Voyage * Your Journey Just Begins Now! * Seminar Texts, Presentations and Videos * Our Website for The Journeys of Discovery * Our Books on Explanatory Notes for Risale-i Nur (Texts and Visuals/Interactive) * Our Video Channel for The Journeys of Discovery * Suggested Websites * The Opportunity to Read and Listen Risale-i Nur Round The Clock Wherever You Are * Locations Where You Can Participate in Risale-i Nur Conversations and Classes * Other Academic Training Activities * Author’s Contact Address