Presented by Neil Sinhababu, National University of Singapore 

Free will and determinism are special concerns of the monotheistic West, where divine omnipotence seems to create determinism that constrains free will and where divine perfection must be reconciled with worldly evils and an eternal hell. Asian cultures that don’t emphasize a perfect creator appear less troubled by determinism. The significance of indeterministic free will therefore isn't universal, but is specific to a particular theological framework.

Dr. Neil Sinhababu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the National University of Singapore. He is co-editor of Nietzsche and Morality (Oxford, 2007) and author of Humean Nature: How Desire Explains Action, Thought, and Feeling (Oxford, 2017). 

A pre-lecture reception will be held at 3:30 p.m. in the Philosophy Department (Music 102).