What neuroscience can tell us about free will: questioning its methodology and its possibility to solve the problem
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14422/pen.v75.i283.y2019.013Keywords:
determinism, free will, naturalism, neuroscienceAbstract
The old problem of free will and determinism has been taken up today by the neurosciences from a naturalistic perspective. There are many methodological and conceptual problems that researchers face in trying to scientifically solve the question of the existence of free will. Our goal will be subject to review one of the budgets of these investigations, the possibility of quantifying free will as a fact. To do this we will discuss first the difficulties relating to this claim. After that we will establish what are the conditions of possibility of free will in order to criticize the psychological and neuroscientific perspectives, we suggest that both are unable to offer knowledge about the existence of these conditions. Also, we offer some methodological considerations attending the famous Libet’s experiment.Downloads
References
Alexiévich, S. (2016). Voces de Chernóbil. Crónica del futuro, Penguin Random House. Editorial, Buenos Aires, 2016.
Alonso Schökel, L., Sicre Díaz, J. L. (1980). Profetas. Comentario I. Madrid: Cristiandad.
Aranguren, J. L. L. (1994). Ética. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.
Ayala, F. J. (2006). «Las raíces biológicas de la moral», en: Ayala, F. J., La evolución de un evolucionista. Valencia: Universidad de Valencia, pp. 351-369.
Ayala, F. J. y Cela Conde, C. J. (2001). «La filogénesis de la moral», en: Ayala, F. J. y Cela Conde, C. J., Senderos de la evolución humana. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, pp. 517-538.
Banks W. P. y Pockett S. (2007). «Benjamin Libet’s work on the neuroscience of free will», en Blackwell Companion to Consciousness, ed. Velmans, S. y Schinder, S., Malden.MA: Blackwell, pp. 657-670. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470751466.ch52
Cortina A. (2007). Ética mínima: Introducción a la filosofía práctica. Madrid: Tecnos.
Cortina, A. (2012). Neuroética y neuropolítica: Sugerencias para la educación moral. Madrid: Tecnos.
Cortina, A. (ed.) (2012). Guía Comares de Neurofilosofía Práctica. Granada: Editorial Comares.
Evers, K. (2010). Neuroética. Cuando la materia se despierta. Madrid: Katz Editores.
Farah, M. J. (2012). «Neuroethics: The Ethical, Legal, and Societal Impact of Neuroscience» en: Annual Review of Psychology, 63, pp. 571-91. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100438
Gould, S. J. y Lewontin, R. C. (1979). «The Spandrels of San Marco and the Panglossian Paradigm: A Critique of the Adaptationist Programme», The Royal Society of London, Series B, Vol. 205, No. 1161, 581-598.
Gould, S. J. y Vrba, E. S. (1982). «Exaptation – A Missing Term in The Science of Form», en Paleobiology, Vol. 8, Nº 1, 4-15.
Habermas, J. (2006). Entre naturalismo y religión. Barcelona: Paidós.
Illes, J., y Sahakian, B. J. (2011), The Oxford Handbook of Neuroethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199570706.001.0001
Kant, I. (2000). Crítica de la razón práctica. Madrid: Alianza.
Kornhuber, H. H., y Deecke, L. (1965). «Hirnpotentialanderungen bei Willkurbewegungen und passiven Bewegungen den Menschen: Bereitschaftspotential und reafferente Potentiale», en: Pflugers Archiv fur die gesamte Physiologie des Menschen und der Tiere, 284(1), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(08)61910-X
Kornhuber, H. H. et al. (1989). «Will, volitional action, attention and cerebral potentials in man: Bereitschaftspotential, performance-related potentials, directed attention potential, EEG spectrum changes», en W. A. Hershberger (Ed.), Volitional action. Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 107-168. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(08)61910-X
Libet, B. et al. (1983). «Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity (readiness potential)», Brain, 106: 623-642. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/106.3.623
Libet, B., «Cerebral processes that distinguish conscious experience from unconscious mental functions», en: Eccles J. C. y Creutzfeldt O. (eds.), The principles of design and operation of the brain, Pontificiae Academiae Scientiarum Scripta Varia, Rome, Vatican, 78, pp. 186-202.
Libet, B. (1999). «Do We Have Free Will?» en: Journal of Consciousness Studies, Vol. 6, Nº 8-9, pp. 47-57(11).
Pallarés, D. (2016). «My brain made me not do it: an emergentist interprestation of Benjamin Libet», en: Ramon Llull Journal of Applied Ethics, issue 7, pp. 121-141.
Roskies, A. L. (2010). «How Does Neuroscience Affect Our Conception of Volition?» en: Annual Review of Neuroscience, 33, pp. 109-130. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-060909-153151
Roskies, A. L (2010), «Why Libet’s studies don’t pose a threat to free will», en Conscious Will and Responsibility, ed. Sinnott-Armstrong, W. y Nadel, L. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 11-22. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195381641.003.0003
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
The publishing Universidad Pontificia Comillas retain the copyright of articles published in Pensamiento. Reuse of content is allowed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivates 3.0 Unported. Authors are encouraged to publish their work on the Internet (for example, on institutional or personal pages, repositories, etc.) respecting the conditions of this license and quoting appropriately the original source.