Dear TOK Society List,

  I just wanted share that I have been engaged in a series of wonderfully stimulating conversations with Michael Mascolo. He is a brilliant psychologist who has a philosophically sophisticated view of the field. I am writing here because a couple of months back there was an engaging discussion on the list about the concept of free will versus determinism. I explained why I was a “compatibilitist” who rejected the extremes of both a completely autonomous “free will” and a reductive determinism, but emphasized the evolution of regulatory structures in context. The attached 2019 article by Michael and his co-author in Philosophical Psychology provides an excellent analysis of precisely this kind of argument. Although I found it eminently readable and clear, I acknowledge that some might find the paper a bit dense. The take home point is that there are regulatory feedback loops such that there are clearly “choices” mediated by the Self-conscious-Person-Culture plane/dimension of existence.

Best,
Gregg

 

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Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Graduate Psychology
216 Johnston Hall
MSC 7401
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
(540) 568-7857 (phone)
(540) 568-4747 (fax)

Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity.

Check out my Theory of Knowledge blog at Psychology Today at:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/theory-knowledge