Surrounding Self-control

Self-control has gained enormous attention in recent years both in philosophy and the mind sciences, for it has profound implications on so many aspects of human life. Overcoming temptation, improving cognitive functioning, making life-altering decisions, and numerous other challenges all depend upon self-control. But recent developments in the philosophy of mind and in action theory, as well as in psychology, are now testing some of the assumptions about the nature of self-control previously held on purely a priori grounds.

New essays in this volume offer fresh insights from a variety of angles: neuroscience; social, cognitive, and developmental psychology; decision theory; and philosophy. While much of the literature on self-control is spread across distinct disciplines and journals, this volume presents for the first time a thorough and truly interdisciplinary exploration of the topic.

The essays address four central topics: what self-control is and how it works; temptation and goal pursuit; self-control, morality, and law; and extending self-control. They take up an array of complex and important questions. What is self-control? How is self-control related to willpower? How does inhibitory control work? What are the cultural and developmental origins of beliefs about self-control? How are attempts at self-control hindered or helped by emotions? How do our beliefs about our own ability to deal with temptation influence our behavior? What does the ability to avoid temptation depend on? How should juvenile responsibility be understood, and how should the juvenile justice system be reformed? Can an account of self-control help us understand free will?

Combining the most recent scientific research with new frontiers in the philosophy of mind, this volume offers the most definitive guide to self-control to date.

Alfred R. Mele is the William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University. He is the author of eleven books and editor or coeditor of six other books for Oxford University Press, and author of over 200 articles. He is past director of two multi-million dollar, interdisciplinary projects: the Big Questions in Free Will project (2010-13) and the Philosophy and Science of Self-Control project (2014-17).

1. Introduction
Alfred R. Mele

Part I. What is Self-Control and How Does it Work?

2. The Long Reach of Self-Control
Roy F. Baumeister, Andrew J. Vonasch, and Hallgeir Sj?stad

3. The Developmental and Cultural Origins of Our Beliefs About Self-Control
Adrienne Wente, Xin Zhao, Alison Gopnik, Carissa Kang, and Tamar Kushnir

4. Self-Control as a Coordination Problem
Asael Y. Sklar and Kentaro Fujita

5. Self-Control as Hybrid Skill
Myrto Mylopoulos and Elisabeth Pacherie

6. Inhibitory Control and Self-Control
Alejandra Sel and Joshua Shepherd

7. Exploring the Roles of Emotions in Self-Control
Andrea Scarantino

8. Children, Responsibility for Self-Control Failures, and Narrative Capacity
Meghan Griffith

9. Mind Control: Self-Control and Decision-Making
Marcela Herdova and Stephen Kearns

Part II. Temptation and Goal Pursuit

10. Self-Control, Agency and the Placebo Brain Stimulation: Psychological and Philosophical Perspectives
Davide Rigoni, Naomi Vanlessen, Rossella Guerini, Mario De Caro, and Marcel Brass

11. Framing Temptations in Relation to the Self: Acceptance and Alienation
Eric Funkhouser and Jennifer C. Veilleux

12. Shaping Our Mental Lives: On the Value of Mental Self-Control and Mental Self-Regulation
Dorothea Debus

13. Resist or Yield? What to do with Temptations?
Bence Nanay

Part III. Self-Control, Morality, and Law

14. Moralizing Self-Control
Marlon Mooijman, Peter Meindl, and Jesse Graham

15. Achieving Goals by Imposing Risk
Katherine Hawley

16. Self-Control and Deliberate Ignorance: On Ignoring Information We Ought to Know and Processing Information We Shouldn't
Sammy Basu and James Friedrich

17. Self-Control, Co-Operation, and Intention's Authority
Lilian O'Brien

18. Juvenile Self-Control and Legal Responsibility: Building a Scalar Standard
Tyler K. Fagan, Katrina Sifferd, and William Hirstein

Part IV. Extending Self-Control

19. Framing as a Mechanism for Self-Control: Rationality and Quasi-Cyclical Preferences
Jos? Luis Berm?dez

20. Empathetic Self-Control
David Shoemaker

21. Negligence and Social Self-Governance
Manuel R. Vargas

22. Frankfurt and the Problem of Self-Control
Ryan Cummings and Adina L. Roskies

23. Self-Control, Mental Time Travel and the Temporally Extended Self
Erica Cosentino