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“A rigid philosophical tradition claims that no choice is free unless it
is uncaused; that is, unless the "will" is exercised independently of
all causal influences - in a causal
vacuum. In some unexplained fashion, the will - a thing that allegedly
stands aloof from brain-based causality - makes an unconstrained choice. The problem is that choices are made by
brains, and brains operate causally; that is, they go from one state to the
next as a function of antecedent conditions. Moreover, though brains make decisions,
there is no discrete brain structure or neural network which qualifies as
"the will" let alone a neural structure operating in a causal vacuum.
The unavoidable conclusion is that a philosophy dedicated to uncaused choice is
as unrealistic as a philosophy dedicated to a flat Earth.
To
begin to update our ideas of free will, I suggest we first shift the debate
away from the puzzling metaphysics of causal vacuums to the neurobiology of
self-control.”
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