Alfred Mele - Does Brain Science Eliminate Free Will?

Who's the boss, me or my brain? Brain data does not favor free will. In the famous Libet experiment, my brain makes decisions prior to my conscious sense of making that decision—brain activity precedes personal awareness. But there seems to be more to me than my brain? Is that illusion? How to judge among the diverse and competing claims about free will?



Alfred Remen Mele is an American philosopher and the William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University. He is also the Director of the Philosophy and Science of Self-Control Project and past director of the Big Questions in Free Will Project (2010-2013). Mele is the author of ten books and over 200 articles.


Closer to Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[RolandHuettmann]

When I play the piano, with time, hand movements become automatic. Repeated movements are not governed by a conscious decision. But to start practicing is a decision. Maybe, what was measured are repetitions, but not decisions. There is a lot going on with conscious and unconscious actions and effects, both may trigger each-other and be in parallel. It would be worthwhile to design a test that allows to differentiate and eliminate noise.

[MrSanford]

These tests measure responses/stimuluses but not the causes of initiation of causes . And I’m not sure how a naturally organic body could make decisions regarding artificial constructs . Is the body teaching astronauts to fly the space shuttle ?

[ToddHoff]

It's not the brain making choices, it's your brain making choices. Your brain has been trained over long years by your experience, your contemplation, your goals and desires. So that's free will. Consciousness is just one function of our brains. Most everything of important happens unconsciously or we'd be dead. Consciousness is executive function and it has an important role, but just because every little decision doesn't hit consciousness can't mean free will doesn't exist.

[bluelotus]

What these neuroscientists call 'conscious awareness' is just the mirror of the mind, that is, the screen on which the information processed by the brain becomes visible. And that information comes from the conscious self.

[jamesruscheinski]

If a brain scan is not able to measure awareness of the action, then would this indicate that consciousness is more than the brain?

[davecros]

This made me think of a plot for a horror movie. Someone examines their own brain so deeply that they get their mind into a feedback loop that explodes their minds. I may have just experienced that. Blew my mind. Groovy video

[philochristos]

I think a more interesting question is the question of whether our mental states (like our beliefs, motives, and intentions) have any causal influence over our behavior at all by way, not just of their underlying physical properties, but by way of their semantic content. In other words, does it matter what our thought or belief is ABOUT as far as behavior is concerned, or does it only matter whether the physical structure or events in the brain are just right to bring about the behavior, regardless of what mental state is associated with that physical structure?

[papinbala]

the person has to think if he wants to move his hand or not, and thoughts are faster than physical movement, simple as that, it doesnt prove anything.

[hvglaser]

Why does free will have to be conscious? Isn’t will a largely emotional form (emotion preceding thought)?

[brigham]

I'm trying to figure out if I'm writing this comment of my own free will or if I had no choice.

[jamesruscheinski]

In the Libet experiment, maybe half second before is subconscious free will preparing for conscious choice / decision a fifth second before?

[jamesruscheinski]

It might be free will in the subconscious brain that gives the subject a choice(s) based on the brain's evaluation of a developing situation (anticipation), then the person makes a conscious decision that becomes aware of?

[s.muller]

there's no such thing as free will, so there's nothing to eliminate.

[zgobermn]

The problem is that the populizers of the Libet study is they present it very raw, sorely lacking the careful nuance raised by Robert's interlocutor in this video. Free will stands.

[josephtnied]

The experiment is interesting in how it relates our consciousness and actions, but has nothing to do with free will. The libertarian form of free will is eliminated simply by the fact there's no coherent way to define it without eliminating the "free" aspect of it (things are either determined or random, there's no in-between realm for libertarian free will to populate). There are other forms of "free will" we can define (compatibilism), and this experiment doesn't threaten those at all.

[jamesruscheinski]

Could free will be subconscious, with decision being conscious that subject becomes aware of? Is there possibility of a subconscious free will preparation for a conscious choice?

[imabeast]

The urge could be getting the brain ready to do something before the eyes/self is aware it's about to do it.

[RPKGameVids]

For a split second I thought it was Prince William in the thumbnail.

[markfischer]

You can't eliminate something that doesn't exist. You have to go far deeper into the nature of matter and energy cause and effect to see why.

[kenmapp]

In the original experiment, everyone decided to flick their wrist the moment they went into that study room. This is the execuitive version of freewill. (I like the suggestion in your video that free will could operate at the unconscious level. ) But if free will is a conscious process it could only operate in the conscious part of our brain. I think that about 90% of what my brain does is not available to my conscious mind. This is kind of a problem for free will (but not insurmountable): how is it that you have free will over the 10% of neurons whose activity your are aware of but not the other 90%