Julian Sanchez seems to have become a propagandist for naturalism. I have much to say on compatibilism (the most irksome of the naturalists’ talking points) and the phenomenon, almost unbelievable to me, that there are such creatures as compatibilists. None of it is complimentary. Let me go on record now: compatibilism is not a respectable philosophical position.
Reading Julian’s review tonight got me wondering. Compatibilism is so obviously false, so plainly ludicrous, that perhaps it is best understood as an article of faith. Are Dennett and the other leading compatibilists selling a new Platonic noble lie? Are Sanchez and Wilkinson, et al., dupes, unwitting inductees into a priesthood called to prevent the advent of nihilism, which the compatibilist vanguard expect to be the popular reaction to the deadly truth that we are automatons?
Probably not. But I am again bewildered. What gives?
Why do you think that compatibilism is so obviously false? Is it because you think that free will language (ordinary language about free will and choices) is clearly incompatibilist? Or is it for some other reason?