- seCtIon tHRee: BoDY AnD WoRLD
Haggard, P. (2008). Human volition: towards a
neuroscience of will. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9 ,
934–946.
Makes the empirical and theoretical case for treating
voluntary action, including conscious experience, as
something the brain does.
Libet, B. (1985). Unconscious cerebral initiative and
the role of conscious will in voluntary action. Behav-
ioral and Brain Sciences, 8 , 529–539. Commentaries
following Libet’s article: BBS, 8 , 539–566, and BBS,
10 , 318–321 (especially Breitmeyer, Latto, Nelson).
A classic which rewards careful study – both of Libet’s
original methods and conclusions, and of the many
interpretations of these by others.
Miles, J. B. (2013). ‘Irresponsible and a disservice’:
The integrity of social psychology turns on the free will
dilemma. British Journal of Psychology, 52 , 205–218.
Argues that the scientific study of free will is generally
biased towards assuming that believing in it is good
and not believing is dangerous, when in fact the oppo-
site is true.
Wegner, D. M. (2003). The mind’s best trick: How
we experience conscious will. Trends in Cognitive Sci-
ences, 7 , 65–69.
Why we feel we consciously will our own actions,
whether or not we really do.