Recently, Alex O'Connor (aka CosmicSkeptic) gave a talk to the Dorset Humanists titles the Good Delusion. In it he argued that free will does not exist, that in consequence morality does not exist, but that moral language can be reconstructed in a way that makes it informative, if not moral. I think he is wrong on all counts. I made some criticisms on a few points of the video, but it was suggested to me by somebody else that Alex was unlikely to read the comments and so that I should email him directly, which I have done. In the process, I expanded on my points. I thought it might also be useful to post the email on this blog. It should be noted that the points below are not all my disagreements, though they are enough to refute the initial part of his argument; and the misconceived idea of reconstructing moral language is not motivated without the errors I refute. I should also note that these do not constitute my positive argument for free will, and for morality.
