Freedom, Teleology, and Evil

Stewart Goetz (M. Litt., Oxford; Ph.D., Notre Dame) is Chair and Professor of Philosophy at Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA. Previously he was a NEH Summer Fellow at Stanford University. His major areas of research are action theory, the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of religion. He has journal articles published in American Philosophical Quarterly, Faith and Philosophy, International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion, Midwest Studies in Philosophy, Mind, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophia Christi, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research and Religious Studies. He has published or has forthcoming papers in books published by Blackwell, Cornell University Press, Oxford University Press, and Routledge and is co-author with Charles Taliaferro of Naturalism, forthcoming in 2008 with Eerdmans. At present, he serves on the board of directors for Blackwell's Philosophy Compass.

• Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Noncausal Agency; Chapter 3: Noncausal Agency and Its Critics; Chapter 4: Noncausal Agency and Problems of Luck; Chapter 5: The Principle of Alternative Possibilities; Chapter 6: Self-forming Choices, Life Plans, and the Problem of Evil.

'Goetz's book Freedom, Teleology, and Evil is highly original and, indeed, unique in that it is a systematic defense of a non-causal approach to agency, including free will and moral responsibility.  The critical arguments are probing, and Goetz's positive suggestions are provocative and important.  I highly recommend this book.'  - John Martin Fischer, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Riverside