Decision and freedom

old_uid7758
titleDecision and freedom
start_date2009/12/04
schedule14h30-16h30
onlineno
summaryWhat can neuroscience tell us about decision-making and free will? I discuss some neuroscientific data from monkeys that illuminates the neural basis of decisions under uncertainty, and argue that this simple model can be generalized to more complex decisions made for reasons. This picture accords well with some compatibilist views on free will, and I suggest that what makes human decisions comport with intuitive notions of freedom is that we sometimes have conscious access to the intentional content of the states involved in those decisions. I consider briefly whether such meta-consciousness is essential to freedom, and whether nonhuman animals also have this metacognitive ability.
responsiblesPacherie, Dokic, Proust