Free Will

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A BELIEF IN FREE WILL touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement—without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. And yet the facts tell us that free will is an illusion.

In this enlightening book, Sam Harris argues that this truth about the human mind does not undermine morality or diminish the importance of social and political freedom, but it can and should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life.

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Book details:

Free Press |
96 pages |
ISBN 9781451683400 |
March 2012

$9.99 List Price

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Praise

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“In this elegant and provocative book, Sam Harris demonstrates--with great intellectual ferocity and panache--that free will is an inherently flawed and incoherent concept, even in subjective terms. If he is right, the book will... ”

– V. S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition, UCSD, and author of The Tell-Tale Brain

“Brilliant and witty--and never less than incisive--Free Will shows that Sam Harris can say more in 13,000 words than most people do in 100,000. ”

– Oliver Sacks

“Free will is an illusion so convincing that people simply refuse to believe that we don’t have it. In Free Will, Sam Harris combines neuroscience and psychology to lay this illusion to rest at last. Like all of Harris’s... ”

– Jerry A. Coyne, Professor of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, and author of Why Evolution Is True

“Many say that believing that there is no free will is impossible--or, if possible, will cause nihilism and despair. In this feisty and personal essay, Harris offers himself as an example of a heart made less self-absorbed, and more... ”

– Owen Flanagan, Professor of Philosophy, Duke University, and author of The Really Hard Problem

“If you believe in free will, or know someone who does, here is the perfect antidote. In this smart, engaging, and extremely readable little book, Sam Harris argues that free will doesn’t exist, that we’re better off... ”

– Paul Bloom, Professor of Psychology, Yale University, and author of How Pleasure Works

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Read an Excerpt

The question of free will touches nearly everything we care about. Morality, law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, feelings of guilt and personal accomplishment—most of what is distinctly human about our lives seems to depend upon our viewing one another as autonomous persons, capable of free choice. If the scientific community were to declare free will an illusion, it would precipitate a culture war far more belligerent than the one that has been waged on the subject of evolution. Without free will, sinners and criminals would be nothing more than poorly calibrated clockwork, and...