254 Self and the Phenomenon of Life
b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity “9x6”
- Kelso JAS, Tognoli E. (2009) Toward a complementary neuroscience:
Metastable coordination dynamics of the brain. In Murphy N, Ellis GFR,
O’Connor T. eds.: Downward Causation and the Neurobiology of Free
Will. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. - If mind does not exist, or if mind exists but does not affect the brain, free
will is reduced to a series of physical processes playing out in the cerebral
cortex. The scenario is thus similar to changing weather conditions, only
more complex. Why, then, not accord free will to the weather, if the pres-
ence of mind is irrelevant? If we refuse to do so, we have to admit that there
must be a qualitative difference between weather and animal behavior. And
if so, what is the difference? What makes this difference possible? More
discussion follows in Chapter 13. - This view is consistent with the probabilistic theory of causation. See:
Suppes P. (1970) A Probabilistic Theory of Causation. North-Holland
Publishing Co. Amsterdam. - Morell V. (2009) News focus: Nigel Franks profile. Science 323: 1284–1285.
- Desmurget M, Reilly KT, Richard N, et al. (2009) Movement intention
after parietal cortex stimulation in humans. Science 324: 811–813. - Kornhuber HH, Deecke L. (1965) Herpotentialunderungen bei willkurbe-
wegungen und passiven, bewegungen des menschen: bereitschafts potential
und reafferente potentiale. Pflugers Archiv Pysiologie 284: 1–17. - Libet B, Gleason CA, Wright EW, Pearl DK. (1983) Time of conscious
intention to act in relation to cerebral activity (readiness-potential): The
unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain 106: 623–642. - Wegner DM. (2002) The Illusion of Conscious Will. MIT Press,
Cambridge, MA. - The outcome of muscle contraction has to be broadly interpreted to
include writing (hand movement) and speech (vocal cord function). - Mele AR. (2009) Effective Intentions: The Power of Conscious Will. Oxford
Univ. Press, Oxford; Mele AR. (2014) Free: Why Science Hasn’t Disproved
Free Will. Oxford Univ. Press, New York. - Libet B. (1999) Do we have free will? Journal of Conscious Studies 6:
47–57; Libet B. (2004) Mind Time: The Temporal Factor in Conscious-
ness. Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA.