Abstract

Classical arguments for the compatibility of determinism and freedom of the will commonly associated to Hobbes and Hume have in the last fifty years successfully challenged and shown to be unsatisfying. However, compatibilism is still alive and kicking. The paper provides a survey and a discussion of some of the most convincing contemporary compatibilist arguments, as presented by Daniel Dennett and other contemporary philosophers. These are related to the following issues: causation and the excuse, the concept of control, the relationship between determinism and possibility, the alleged threat of neurosciences to human agency, and the moral basis of responsibility.