Yes, we have free will! This Specialization will explore Libertarian Free Will and discuss philosophical arguments and neuroscientific evidence for and against its existence.
In this Specialization, we will dismantle arguments against free will, both from a philosophical and neuroscientific perspective. In supporting free will, we will tour philosophy, physics and neuroscience. We will rethink the neural code and discover that evolution has discovered a middle path between determinism and chance. We will learn about the amplification of quantum domain indeterminism up to a level of indeterminacy in neural spike timing. We will see that outcomes that arise from internal operations in working memory, that afford imagination and deliberations about the future, can alter probabilities of future courses of action. I will argue that evolution has instantiated these conditions necessary for Libertarian Free Will in our brains. Indeed, evolution has afforded us two kinds of Libertarian Free Will, one that we share with other animals, namely, the ability to weigh and select from among internally simulated options, and the other, unique to humans, namely, the capacity to imagine and then set about becoming of a new kind of chooser in the future.
Overview
Syllabus
Course 1: The Basics of Libertarian Free Will
- Offered by Dartmouth College. In this course, we will dismantle arguments against free will from a philosophical perspective. Module one of ... Enroll for free.
Course 2: Free Will and Neuroscience
- Offered by Dartmouth College. In this course, we will discuss free will from a neuroscientific perspective. Module one of the course will ... Enroll for free.
Course 3: Neural Basis of Imagination, Free Will, and Morality
- Offered by Dartmouth College. This course deals with the neural basis of imagination, free will, and morality. In module one of the course, ... Enroll for free.
- Offered by Dartmouth College. In this course, we will dismantle arguments against free will from a philosophical perspective. Module one of ... Enroll for free.
Course 2: Free Will and Neuroscience
- Offered by Dartmouth College. In this course, we will discuss free will from a neuroscientific perspective. Module one of the course will ... Enroll for free.
Course 3: Neural Basis of Imagination, Free Will, and Morality
- Offered by Dartmouth College. This course deals with the neural basis of imagination, free will, and morality. In module one of the course, ... Enroll for free.
Courses
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In this course, we will dismantle arguments against free will from a philosophical perspective. Module one of the course will help you discover the differences between freedom from constraint and freedom within constraint. It will also help you to define truth and reality as they relate to our perceptions. The second module will explore concepts such as causation and criterial causations. You will be able to define consciousness as it relates to our mental and physical worlds. The third and the final module of this course will explore the core idea behind free will and analyze why arguments for or against free will are categorized in terms of their compatibility with determinism. You will also be able to compare the two types of libertarian free will.
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In this course, we will discuss free will from a neuroscientific perspective. Module one of the course will explore two neuroscientific arguments against free will from Libet and Wegner and evaluate neuroscientists’ arguments against free will. You will also examine where these experiments do not succeed in debunking free will. In module two, the anatomy and physiology of neurons will be described. You will also learn how they communicate. You will have an understanding about neural anatomy and physiology to consciousness, attention, and free will. In the final and the third module of the course, you will explore an example of the top-down influence on bottom-up processing called volitional attention. You will see how neural circuits responsible for both volitional and non-volitional thought and action interact with each other. Next, you will learn how a neural circuit can change its physical structure and function, and how these changes might impact human behavior.
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This course deals with the neural basis of imagination, free will, and morality. In module one of the course, you will explore the evidence of imagination derived from artifacts. This module examines the brain changes that caused the innovativeness of human imagination. The relation between the first and the second-order desires and free will also be discussed. In the second module, you will learn how we imagine and judge what is right versus what is wrong. You will also learn to differentiate between immoral and amoral acts and explore the origin of morality, evil, and human goodness. While comparing the relationship between science and religion, you'll understand how to realign social, cultural, and governmental structures to serve broad human interests.
Taught by
Peter Tse
