Acknowledgments
This book, originally a single- author project, began many years ago as a draft
built from teaching notes from my time at Ithaca College. It later evolved and
was used for both undergraduates and graduates at Florida State University.
Once I arrived at the University of Arizona, I used it in an earlier form to teach
an undergraduate class. I would like to thank my many colleagues and students
at Ithaca College, Florida State University, and the University of Arizona for
their helpful comments and suggestions. Of special note are my colleagues from
Ithaca College, Stephen Schwartz, Craig Duncan, Carol Kates, Robert Klee,
Rick Kaufman, and Richard Creel; my colleagues from FSU, Al Mele, Randy
Clarke, Joshua Gert, Stephen Kearns, and Seth Shabo; and my colleagues from
U of A, Carolina Sartorio, Terry Horgan, Jenann Ismael, Keith Lehrer, Shaun
Nichols, Stew Cohen, and David Schmidtz. I owe special thanks to four philoso-
phers who taught me how to understand the free will debate, John Fischer, Carl
Ginet, Paul Russell, and, most notably, George Thomas, my graduate professor
and dissertation supervisor from the University of Virginia. I have also profited
over the years from a wonderful group of friends who work on free will and
related topics, especially Nomy Arpaly, Mark Balaguer, Bernie Berofsky,
Gunnar Björnsson, Joe Campbell, Ish Haji, Bob Kane, Eddie Nahmias, Dana
Nelkin, Tim O’Connor, Derk Pereboom, George Sher, David Shoemaker, Angie
Smith, Tamler Sommers, Patrick Todd, Manuel Vargas, Gary Watson, and
Michael Zimmerman. Finally, I would like to thank my co-author for agreeing to
come on board in 2013. With a considerable amount of revising and the addition
of several new chapters, Derk helped make this book far more balanced and
thorough. He also made completing it an especially good time and a great learn-
ing experience.
I am grateful to Peter Ohlin and Oxford University Press for permission to
reprint sections of “Contemporary Compatibilism: Mesh Theories and Reasons-
Responsive Theories,” in R. Kane, ed., 2011, Oxford Handbook of Free Will,
2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press): 175–98. This material is used in
Chapter 9. I am also indebted to the John Templeton Foundation for financial
support used to travel to Cornell University to work with Derk Pereboom in July
of 2015.
Michael McKenna