CTNS Public Forum, "Challenging Free Will: Emergentism as a Viable Metaphysics", with Dr. James Haag
Respondent: Terrence Deacon, University of California, Berkeley
Dinner Board Room, GTU Library
This lecture presents material completed for Dr. Haag’s recent dissertation. Two theses in the dissertation will be elaborated: 1) Emergentism, by occupying the gap between Reductive Physicalism and Substance Dualism, provides for a viable metaphysics, 2) Emergentism, by expanding our notions of causation, provides a space for free will to be both experientially balanced and evidentially accurate. In order to express these ideas, several prominent themes will be presented.
First, the rise of Emergentism over the last 40 years has come with a great deal of misunderstanding of the terminology. Clarification of the term “emergence” is needed, which Haag provides by designating a tripartite split between instants of emergence, theories of emergence, and dynamics of emergence. Second, Emergentism offers a shift in causal explanations that deviates from the dominant perspective on causation—one that is dictated by efficient-causation-alone—as the current view means losing the possibility for human free will. Third, Emergentism offers a new way of looking at the free will issue, by taking seriously first-person, phenomenal experience and third-person scientific evidence. Fourth, Haag will briefly note some of the challenges this poses for theological reflection and suggest that a new theological model (Dynamic Theological Naturalism) offers theologians access to the best possible explanations of reality.