Book: Neuroethics: Challenges for the 21st Century
Author: Neil Levy
Pages: 364
Format: pdf
Language: English
ISBN10: 0521687268
Another very interesting discussion in the book concerns the neuroscience of free will. Free will has been considered to be axiomatic in any discussion of ethics or personal responsibility, but many in the neuroscience community have begun to doubt its existence. The author proposes an interesting counterexample to the experiment conducted by Benjamin Libet and Daniel Wegner that purports to show that free will is an illusion. In his counter to the Libet/Wegner claim, the author that consciousness does not play a role in decision-making, with the latter being out of human control. But this does not preclude free will, for conscious deliberation sharpens the quality of the decision-making, with the latter being governed by "subpersonal" mechanisms. But these mechanisms are constructed by beliefs, goals, and other personal biases, so it is proper to say that when "they decide, we decide."
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