Glasgow Gifford Lectures: Professor Pamela Hieronymi (UCLA), 'Minds Matter'

Lecture One: 'Problems in Life and a Problem in Theory' -- 11 November, 6.30pm, Sir Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre, University Avenue

Lecture Two: 'Mind Control' -- 12 November, 6.30pm, Sir Charles Wilson Lecture Theatre, University Avenue

Lecture Three: 'The Ethical Challenge' -- 13 November, 6.30pm, LT 745, James McCune Smith Building, University Avenue

Lecture Four: 'Matter that Matters' -- 14 November, 6.30pm, -- LT 745, James McCune Smith Building, University Avenue

My immodest ambition, in these Lectures, is to unwind what I take to be the problem of free will and moral responsibility. I think the problem can be unwound, because I believe it is a philosophical problem in the pejorative sense: It is created by certain philosophical pictures to which we are naturally (or culturally) prone. We model our life and experience in ways that, upon reflection, lead to difficulty and paradox. In this case, there are two problematic models. One concerns control. Our picture of what it is to control things is too narrow. The other concerns moral responsibility. Our model of moral responsibility is badly off center. The solution is to do some remodeling: to expand our too-narrow notion of control and recenter our off-center ideas about responsibility. This is what I will attempt. I believe the modifications I advocate still yield natural pictures of our experience. Nonetheless, making them can result in a noticeable shift in our understanding of both our place in the world and our relations to one another. I find that shift welcome. I believe the modifications not only avoid the philosophical problem; they also leave our models both more attractive and with a greater claim to being correct.

Host or Publisher Glasgow Gifford Bequest Committee