I will take a pass on Alfred Mele

 (At least he's not racialist Frank Miele!)

This is adapted from an updated version of my review of two piecse by Gregg D. Caruso who in them and in other writings, wrestled not only with Benjamin Libet, but also Daniel Wegner and others. Do we have a conscious free will in the classical sense? I think Wegner has, at a minimum, raised some good questions.

 

Wegner's "The Illusion of Conscious Will" is reviewed by me here.

 

Off of it, I am concentrating on Jonathan MS Pearce's review of Caruso and his reliance on the title character, Alfred Mele. 

Back to the logical disjunction. It's possible that some varieties of free will might be MUCH more averse to retributive justice than might a quasi-determinism. Any sort of theory of free will that sees free will as something evolving would likely favor a theory of justice that aided that evolution, even with cases like criminal behavior. Per my "dehumanizing" notes above, that's that type of free will.

And, as for Caruso's case for free will being an illusion, in essence for committing to some broad variety of determinism, beyond my issue-by-issue, action-by-action partial psychological determinism? Per an OK to decent review of his book on the subject, I think I'm far from alone in finding him wanting, even if it's for other grounds, and beyond those, of the review. That said, the reviewer is Jonathan MS Pearce, with all that entails.

 

First, I disagree with his take on Wegner, which seems highly dependent on Mele. Pearce cites Mele, saying he had disproven scientists who claim they have proven free will is an illusion. First, per classical informal logic, can you disprove a negative any more than you can prove it? I doubt it. Second, Wegner himself never claimed he has "proven" any such thing. And indeed, Pearce also notes that Mele accepts the possibility of pre-conscious brain actions that seem to be right up Wegner's street.

 

I should add that the original version of my main piece on Caruso was before my second reading of Wegner. 

 

I will also note that, grokking Goodreads reviews of a couple of books, Mele's "magnum opus" on free will in 2014, per an Italian two-star review, while targeting Libet, of course, and also Milgram and Zimbardo, doesn't even appear to look at Wegner. Also, given Pierce's background, it's interesting that he does NOT pick up on much of Mele's funding coming from the Templeton Foundation. And, at 112 pages, how much argumentation can you do? 

 

And, per his 2013 "Effective Intentions," the editorial blurb has him stating he's deliberately following in Dennett's "Brainstorms" footsteps. UGH! An Amazon five-star review mischaracterizes Wegner. (God, this is epidemic!) They claim that Wegner claims the idea of free will is only imposed after an action. Not.Even.Wrong. Supposedly, Eddy Nahmias, whom I have run into before, pushes this idea even harder with the mash-up word "Willusionists."

 

OK, then in his "Free Will: An Opinionated Guide," one reviewer claims that Mele implies Libet was committing some sort of research and experimentation fraud. I've never heard that claim before, and I find it even more an eye raiser.

 

And, his book on self-deception? The claim that people never consciously do that relies on a pretty rigid divider between conscious, subconscious and unconscious selves, I think. This one-star review at Amazon is hard hitting. (That said, the reviewer seems in places to confuse conscious self-deception with self-deception in general.)

 

As for Pearce? Here he is looking like a Jesus mythicist before pretending to run away from that, but without actually running away. (I just like kicking him again.)