Philosopher Tibor Machan has an interesting, and readable (which is rare for a philosopher) look at the debate over free will. As important as his thoughts and recommendations for further readings about the free will problem is his view that this sort of issue is appropriate for newspaper columns. Machan writes,
Sure, there is a lot on this topic in The Journal of Consciousness Studies and other publications but much of it is nearly impossible to follow. yet, why should ordinary folks be barred from thinking along with the “experts” when it comes to the question of whether we have minds, whether the mind is anything more than the brain and its parts, whether we have free will and whether thinking is something mechanical or quite different, something unique in nature? I do not believe these are subjects that can only be dealt with via the jargon or often nearly incomprehensible language of those who get paid for discussing it.
Certainly, it is possible to be too hard on philosophers — all disciplines, after all, tend toward jargon-filled language that is almost incomprehensible to those who are outsiders. On the other hand, surely it is a sad state of affairs that while even the most bizarrely complex discoveries of the scientific community filter out rather well into the public consciousness, most of what philosophers do ends up taking shelf space in obscure journals that have almost no impact on the larger world (except, infrequently, in a very negative sense such as the bizarre twists and turns that postmodernism has taken).
Machan thinks that,
It is sad, then, that so many people who write on these topoics seem determined to use language that only the select few can understand. And this is treu of people on various sides of the dispute. . .
No, I do not believe that one can actually settle these matters by crafting a fine column on one or another side of the debate. That would be to belittle the difficulties involved. But neither is it the case that someone who wants to get a handle on the topic need drop everything and become a university professor.
Hear, hear! (Though those opposed to free will might argue they have no choice in the matter.)