b. 1938
Robert Kane is a contemporary American philosopher specializing in the philosophy of free will and moral responsibility. He is best known for developing a libertarian account of free will that grounds genuine indeterminism in the neural processes underlying deliberation and choice. His work attempts to reconcile scientific naturalism with robust agent causation.
Developed a naturalistic libertarian theory of free will grounded in quantum indeterminacy in neural processes
Authored The Significance of Free Will (1996), a landmark text in contemporary free will debates
Argued that free will requires 'self-forming actions' (SFAs) at moments of genuine indeterminism
Edited the Oxford Handbook of Free Will, a standard reference in the field
Demonstrated the entanglement of free will debates with metaphysics, ethics, and philosophy of mind