Vilje (Will) by Søren R. Fauth (
Danish Wikipedia,
faculty page), a Professor with Special Responsibilities over at Aarhus University, is his Danish-language accessibly-written academic essay on the philosophy and reality of willpower and the notion of free will, as far as I can tell, in the Tænkepauser ("Reflections", beginning to become available in English translation
on their webpage here) series of 60-page shorts designed to provide a 60-minute introduction to assorted cultural/intellectual ideas for laypersons, free courtesy of the Aarhus University Press in Denmark.
This is the current offering in their generous freebie program which gives the latest one away as a freebie, which has now changed to a term of just for one week after publication.
Currently free until March 14th, Danish time @
the Aarhus University Press (DRM-free ePub & PDF available worldwide, scroll down and expand where it says "Om bogen" to download the MP3 "som gratis lydfil")
Beskrivelse på dansk
Jeg tænker, derfor er jeg. Det påstod en fransk filosof for et par hundrede år siden. Han tog fejl. Vi er ikke, fordi vi tænker. Men fordi vi vil. Viljen ligger til grund for alt. Til gengæld er det en illusion, at vi mennesker skulle være udstyret med en fri en af slagsen. Det er viljen, der jager os rundt i manegen, evig og altid mod nye mål. Uden den havde Lance Armstrong aldrig vundet syv Tour de France-sejre, og Søren R. Fauth, næsten lige så viljestærk professor i tysk ved Aarhus Universitet, havde nok aldrig taget sig sammen til at skrive bogen her om vilje.