Science & the Big Questions

The Neuroscience of Free Will: A Q&A with Robyn Repko Waller

Blending philosophy and neuroscience in unraveling the mysteries of free will.

Beautiful Minds, Scientific American

Topics: Agency Free Will Scott Barry Kaufman

A Famous Argument Against Free Will Has Been Debunked

For decades, a landmark brain study fed speculation about whether we control our own actions. It seems to have made a classic mistake.

The Atlantic

Topics: Determinism Free Will

Can Neuroscience Understand Free Will?

Perhaps free will won’t forever be an issue philosophers mull over for a lifetime.

Nautilus

Topics: Agency Determinism Free Will Morality

There’s No Such Thing as Free Will

But we’re better off believing in it anyway.

The Atlantic

Topics: Agency Determinism Free Will Meaning Morality

Yes, Determinists, There Is Free Will

You make choices even if your atoms don’t.

Nautilus

Topics: Agency Decision-Making Determinism Free Will Metaphysics

Free Will Is Not Going Away

Many neuroscientists and some philosophers consider free will to be an illusion, but the situation is not so simple.

Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement

Topics: Agency Free Will Marcelo Gleiser

The Free Will Project: An Interview with Santiago Amaya and Manuel Vargas

Research into free will, responsibility, and agency.

APA Blog

Topics: Agency Free Will Metaphysics Morality

The “Bias Blind Spot” Just Replicated (“Everyone Else Is More Biased Than Me”)

Prasad Chandrashekar, Siu Kit Yeung, and colleagues report reproducing the original study.

British Psychological Society Research Digest

Topics: Agency Bias Free Will

Philosophers and Neuroscientists Join Forces to See Whether Science Can Solve the Mystery of Free Will

The collaboration, the researchers say, can help them tackle two important questions: What does it take to have free will? And whatever that is, do we have it?

Science

Topics: Consciousness Decision-Making Free Will

Feeling Anxious? It’s Not Just You, It’s Our Philosophical Era of Neuroexistentialism

This contemporary angst arises from the growing body of knowledge that shows the existence we experience is a result of neural processes.

Quartz

Topics: Agency Determinism Free Will Meaning Morality Naturalism Purpose

Libertarian Free Will: Neuroscientific and Philosophical Evidence

A free online course with Peter Tse, a professor of psychological and brain sciences, funded by the Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Engagement at Dartmouth.

DartmouthX

Topics: Determinism Free Will

Philosophy Has Made Plenty of Progress

Philosopher Tim Maudlin sees advances in free will, morality, and the meaning of quantum mechanics.

Cross-Check, Scientific American

Topics: Consciousness Ethics Free Will Multiverse Quantum Mechanics

This Halloween, a Social Experiment Will Allow Internet Users to Control the Actions of a Real Person

MIT Media Laboratory’s BeeMe is the love child of Black Mirror and psychologist Stanley Milgram’s notorious experiments on free will and obedience.

Smithsonian

Topics: Cooperation Decision-Making Free Will

Just Deserts

Can we be held morally responsible for our actions? Yes, says Daniel Dennett. No, says Gregg Caruso.

Aeon

Topics: Determinism Free Will Luck Morality Self-Control

How Much Control Do You Really Have Over Your Actions? These Brain Regions Provide Clues

Neuroscientists are beginning to pinpoint the regions of the brain involved in the perception of free will.

Science

Topics: Agency Free Will

The Fate of Free Will: When Science Crosses Swords With Philosophy

In some domains the two knowledge systems are complementary, but in others they might be headed for conflict.

Scientific American

Topics: Avi Loeb Free Will

Contrary to Popular Psychological Theory, Believers in Free Will Were No More Generous or Honest

Across all four studies, people who believed more strongly in free will were no more generous (if anything there was a trend in the other direction, toward less generosity), and cheated just as often.

British Psychological Society Research Digest

Topics: Free Will Generosity Honesty Morality

Constructing a Theory of Life

An all-encompassing framework of physics could help to explain the evolution of consciousness, intelligence, and free will.

FQXi

Topics: Consciousness Emergence Free Will Information Intelligence Quantum Mechanics

Will Science Ever Solve the Mysteries of Consciousness, Free Will and God?

Are consciousness, free will and God insoluble mysteries?

Scientific American

Topics: Consciousness Free Will Knowledge Limits of Science

Could Quantum Computing Be the End of Free Will?

On the fear that too much processing power will make us cease to be human.