In terms of the brain and neuroscience:
Is there free will!? Is there, then, accountability for one's actions!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Is there free will!? Is there, then, accountability for one's actions!?Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: We don't know for sure whether or not free will exists!. So far, no law of physics yet discovered has any conscious intelligence to it!. Supposedly, then, the brain is just a very large system of interacting particles, and thus we are complicated chemical automata!. In this case there is no such thing as free will!. (However, if it is predetermined that a person will commit a crime, it is equally predetermined that that person faces consequences!.) Then again, physics is not absolutely deterministic - there is a possibility that the basic element of free will is the uncertainty inherent in particle wavefunctions (viz!. the Heisenberg uncertainty principle)!. What a fascinating possibility! You might read up on "quantum consciousness" if you're interested!. As far as pure neuroscience goes, there are two results that interest me (unfortunately I can't find these papers again): * The action potential for a movement appears to occur a fraction of a second before the person consciously registers the will to perform that action (that is, the final decision to commit to that action)!. This suggests that perhaps we do indeed behave exactly as our chemical system is commanded by neurotransmitters and hormones, reducing us to automata - and that the conscious mind retrospectively interprets our actions, making us think that we have free will, or making us feel emotion (e!.g!. first you punch somebody, a split second later you think that you feel so angry at this person that you've just decided to be physically violent)!. However, I am not sure that the time at which a conscious decision is made can actually be measured - I would have to consult the literature!. * A test subject is told to randomly decide to either raise the left hand or raise the right hand!. Predictably, lefties raise the left hand a bit more often than 50% of the time, and righties raise the right hand a bit more often than 50% of the time!. But when an electromagnetic field is applied to the left side of the brain only, the test subject has a 80% chance of raising the right hand!. So do we really have free will!? Conceivably, a stronger magnetic field could effect mind control (raising one hand 100% of the time)!. Think on this for a while!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com From the religious viewpoint, there is a free will and a person has accountability for his actions!. We are given a free will to choose what you want in this life, whether it is good for you or bad for you!. You are given a free will because you are responsible for what you see, to decide upon what goals you want to achieve and thus you are accountable for your decisions!. The scientific study of the nervous systems underwent a big increase in the second half of the twentieth century, due to revolutions in molecular biology, electrophysiology and computational neuroscience!. In terms of the brain and neuroscience, there is a continuing debate on the matter of free will or accountability of one's action!. Good luck to you!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Douglas Hofstadter, author of "I am a Strange Loop" and an expert on the workings of the brain, does not think free will is a feasible idea!. I think he is being charitable!. I am not responisble for, but I am accountable for my actions!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |