The Self Beyond Itself

March 4, 2013
In this stimulating treatise on ethics and psychology, Ravven (Jewish Themes in Spinoza’s Philosophy, co-editor), a religion professor at Hamilton College, subjects the belief that humans choose freely between starkly opposed moral principles to a vigorous, wide-ranging critique. Starting with an account of moral behavior in the Holocaust, she moves on to a detailed contrast between the Christian doctrine of free will and a rival ethical tradition, stretching from Aristotle to Spinoza, that grounds human morality in nature and social influences. She connects these ideas to findings in cognitive psychology and brain science that undermine the picture of a rational self making free decisions and reveal the determining role of unconscious neural processes and the environment; these results suggest to her an alternative ethics that highlights the power of social relations and institutions in shaping individual choices. Ravven’s dense, scholarly, but very readable text intertwines history, philosophy, and science in insightful and provocative ways. She gives too short a shrift to the motivating force of explicit moral doctrine; despite its lack of realism, free-will dogma captures the moral imagination better than her “systems theory of moral agency” does. Still, she poses a powerful challenge to conventional notions of individual responsibility.

May 15, 2013
Why do some people behave honorably and others badly? This has been a core question since the dawn of philosophy, and Ravven (Religious Studies/Hamilton Coll.; co-editor: Jewish Themes in Spinoza's Philosophy, 2002) discusses the possibilities. The popular answer, especially among nonphilosophers, is that we simply think matters over and behave. We have free will. Despite our upbringings, educations, hardships, group pressures and the limitations of our human brains, we choose our actions and must be held morally responsible for them. This turns out to be a remarkably parochial view that began with early Latin Christianity and quickly spread throughout the West but never caught on in other areas of the world, where fate, karma and other outside influences trump individual choice. No fan of free will, Ravven writes 10 densely argued but sometimes-accessible chapters that explore why humans act and how they justify themselves. It is often not a pretty picture. The mass shooting of Jews in Nazi-occupied Russia was carried out by ordinary German soldiers, not SS fanatics. All were told they could opt out with no penalties. A few did. Others could not stomach the killing and withdrew, but most carried on. They did not think, "what terrible things I am doing," but rather, "this is a miserable job!" These men clearly chose their actions, but it's a stretch to claim that they exercised free will. Scholarly essays packed with closely reasoned arguments from the author and fellow academics, plus extensive historical analyses of thinkers from Aristotle to Spinoza to Malcolm Gladwell. Patient readers with a taste for philosophy will find that reading this book is a stimulating experience.

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May 1, 2013

Ravven (religious studies, Hamilton Coll.; coeditor, Jewish Themes in Spinoza's Philosophy) challenges the notion of free will based on her findings after surveying modern neuroscience and the history of philosophy. She uses the example of the Holocaust to show how group pressures, not rational deliberation, largely determine choice. She raises the questions of whether morality can survive without free will, and if so, how can we be morally responsible for our actions? She traces the belief in free will to a conception of the mind inaugurated by Augustine. His formulation, continued by Descartes and Kant, contrasted will with reason. Augustine's tradition seems exploded by science and history, and Ravven points to the Mediterranean and Arabic view that advances a naturalistic understanding of morality. Knowledge, not will, is the key attribute of the mind and the essence of morality. Maimonides is a major thinker in this tradition, and the position finds its culmination in Baruch Spinoza, who remarkably anticipated the way modern neuroscience regards the mind. VERDICT Ravven's impressive survey of speculation on free will is for both general readers and specialists in philosophy, who will find it an appealing read.--David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., OH

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