Libet on Free Will: Readiness Potentials, Decisions, and Awareness
Libet on Free Will: Readiness Potentials, Decisions, and Awareness
Benjamin Libet contends both that “the brain ‘decides’ to initiate or, at least, prepare to initiate [certain actions] before there is any reportable subjective awareness that such a decision has taken place” and that “if the ‘act now’ process is initiated unconsciously, then conscious free will is not doing it.” He also contends that once we become conscious of our proximal decisions, we can exercise free will in vetoing them. This chapter provides some conceptual and empirical background and then discusses three major problems regarding Libet's findings.
Keywords: Benjamin Libet, free will, readiness potential, practical deciding
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