在自由意志与决定论乃至自然科学的关系问题上,历来存在着两种论调:主张自由意志与决定论无法协调的不相容论,以及坚信自由意志可以得到自然化解释的相容论。丹尼特通过对与自由意志密切相关的自我控制、理性和可避免性三个概念进行分析,驳斥了不相容论主张,巩固了自己的相容论立场,为自由意志的自然化作好了铺垫。
There have always been two positions on the problem of the relationship between the free will and the de- terminism:One is the incompatibilism whk;h insists that we can not reconcile the free will and the determinism;the other is the eompatibilism which argues that somehow the free will can be naturalized. Dennett refuted the incompat- ible arguments while stressing his standpoint of the compatibilism by analyzing three important concepts : self - con- trol, rationality and evitiblity, which are closely related to the free will.