CategoryFree will
Today’s Free Will Debate Shows How Science Culture is Changing
The fact that this Sapolsky–Mitchell debate is still raging shows that eliminative materialism and physicalism are experiencing setbacks in our philosophy of science culture today
Arguments Against Free Will Viewed as Junk Science?
“No free will” used to be taken for granted as “what science says” but incisive critiques are beginning to pop up
Podcast: Free Will, Determinism, and the Immortal Soul
Michael Egnor explains, to claim, “There is no free will,” is to make a rational argument while denying the very capacity that makes rational argument possibleIn an intellectually rich discussion on Mind Matters News, neurosurgeon Dr. Michael Egnor and host Dr. Robert J. Marks explore the scientific, philosophical, and theological dimensions of free will, determinism, and the immaterial nature of the soul. The conversation centers around contents of the new book The Immortal Mind by Egnor and Denyse O’Leary. What emerges is a compelling case not only for the reality of free will, but also for the immortality of the human soul, grounded in reason and neuroscience. The self-refuting nature of free will denial The conversation begins with an analogy: If a spilled bottle of ink coincidentally formed the words “It’s going to snow,” no one would believe that message had real meaning. Similarly, Egnor Read More ›
A Neurosurgeon Makes the Neuroscience Case for Free Will
Michael Egnor is concerned about the serious social implications of denying free will
The Nature of Mind, Free Will, and Human Uniqueness: A Deep Dive
The book Minding the Brain sparks some interesting discussions about what is really unique about the human mind
Scientists Dare To Hint That the Mind Can’t Just Be the Brain
They start with astonishing facts about the brains of caterpillars and worms and end up discussing human near-death experiences
An Infinite Past Universe Rules Out Free Will. But Here’s a Catch
Such a universe is not logically possible, says Daniel Witt. That’s the “turtles all the way down” problem
A Materialist Neuroscientist Makes a Case for Free Will, Cont’d
When Mitchell tries to construct a naturalistic model of will, he is drifting away from the common experience of will that motivated the whole discussion
A Materialist Neuroscientist Makes a Case for Free Will
Kevin Mitchell makes a good case though his book is not equally persuasive on every point
Consciousness: Reductionism’s Final Hill — the One To Die On?
The reductionist has no more information than anyone else about the origin of human consciousness and isn’t making any better sense of the evidence we do have
Does Brain Surgery Prove That Free Will Isn’t Real?
My fellow neurosurgeon Theodore Schwartz is mistaken in thinking that free will is an illusion. It is quite real
Science Writer Wonders If There Can Be Evidence for Free Will
Horgan thinks that “proofs” of free will seem as dubious as denials but there is actually considerable neuroscience evidence
Free Will: A Materialist Thinks It Might Somehow Be Real
Psychiatrist Ralph Lewis thinks that Darwinian evolution can explain human consciousness but now hesitates to debunk free willEarlier this year, University of Toronto psychiatrist Ralph Lewis wrote a two-part series at Psychology Today titled “The Strongest Neuroscience Arguments in the Free Will Debate” (here and here). He looked at Mitchell (yes) and Sapolsky (no), both of whom published serious books on the topic in 2023. And he concluded, For now, for practical purposes, given our current level of incomplete understanding of the complexities of the brain’s decision-making processes, and our inability to predict human behaviors in most situations, we might as well regard ourselves as having free will—or rather, degrees of freedom. We do know that our brain has highly evolved systems for self-control—even for those of us who struggle with this relatively more than others, and Read More ›
Alien Hand Syndrome? Relax. There Is No Alien Mind
The syndrome has been used to argue for the idea that split brain patients really have two separate minds and maybe wills afterward
Neurology Prof Robert Sapolsky Insists There Is No Free Will
We are controlled by our genes, by our prefrontal cortexes, and we can’t choose to change anything. Or can we?
Michael Egnor: The Neuroscience Evidence for Free Will
You ask a hundred neuroscientists about Libet's work and 95% will say he disproved free will, when he did exactly the opposite
Trying To Refute Free Will Without Being Sure What It Is…
Stephen Barr offers some thoughts on neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky’s Determined, which argues against free will
Can Free Will and Predestination Both Be True?
Seemingly contradictory arguments can sometimes be resolved from a higher level perspective. Quantum mechanics vs. classical physics provides an illustration