Human Freedom after Darwin : A Critical Rationalist View

Views of human freedom can be classified as eliminative, leveling, or distinctive. Eliminative views say that humans have no freedom, or no more than other physico-chemical systems. Leveling views contend that humans have the same kind of freedom as other animals, whereas distinctive views allow that humans may attain a degree of freedom beyond that achievable by other animals. Empiricism favors a conception of freedom which is either eliminative or leveling. By contrast, rationalism has been assoc. with distinctive views. Here, Watkins defends a distinctive view. He develops a naturalistic world-view & argues for critical rationalism by showing that the growth of scientific knowledge defeats both classical empiricism & rationalism. Illus.Watkins, John is the author of 'Human Freedom after Darwin : A Critical Rationalist View', published 2008 under ISBN 9781422394236 and ISBN 1422394239.