Susan Wolf, in Freedom Within Reason, seeks to shed new light on the age-old philosophical question of free will. The reader's attention may be engaged by the fact that Mick Jagger is quoted on the first page of the book---"I have my freedom, but I don't have much time" (Wolf vii). If that reader expects Wolf's philosophical study of free will to remain on the rock lyric level, he or she will be sorely disappointed. Wolf fulfills all the standards of logical and analytical discourse. On the other hand, in her book she attempts to not only shed new light on free will but to do so in a style which tries to keep the interest of the reader from flagging. As a result, she has fashioned a work which should satisfy both the serious philosopher and the intelligent lay reader who has any interest in the question of free will.
Wolf writes that her book is free of any historical survey on the philosophical debate over free will because "I wanted to write an uncluttered book that formulates and addresses problems in the ways I have found to be most natural and beneficial and that will appeal and be accessible to nonspecialists as well as specialists" (Wolf viii).
Again, however, if the reader anticipates an A-B-C approach to this primary philosophical question, the book will disappoint. Wolf is a serious philosopher, despite her desire to communicate to "nonspecialists." If the reader can stick with her arguments, step by step, however, he or she will be rewarded with a fresh look at this age-old debate.
Most importantly, Wolf is determined to show the significance of the free will debate for everyday human lives. She is concerned not only with discovering whether or not we have free will, and, if we do have it, to what degree we have it, but also with the significance of free will as an issue in our lives. In other words, she wants to deal with the question, What difference does it make?
She argues that it does certainly make a ...