Free Will as a Psychological Accomplishment

I offer analyses of free will in terms of a complex set of psychological capacities agents possess to varying degrees and have varying degrees of opportunities to exercise effectively, focusing on the under-appreciated but essential capacities for imagination. For an agent to have free will is for her to possess the psychological capacities to make decisions—to imagine alternatives for action, to select among them, and to control her actions accordingly—such that she is the author of her actions and can deserve credit or blame for them. For an agent to act of her own free will is for her to have had (reasonable) opportunity to exercise these capacities in making her decision and acting. There is a long philosophical tradition of treating free will as the set of capacities that, when properly functioning, allow us to make decisions that contribute to our leading a good or flourishing life. On this view, free will is a psychological accomplishment. Free will allows us to be the causal source of our actions in a way that is compatible with determinism and naturalism

Your Brain as the Source of Free Will Worth Wanting: Understanding Free Will in the Age of Neuroscience

Philosophical debates about free will have focused on determinism—a potential ‘threat from behind’ because determinism entails that there are conditions in the distant past that, in accord with the laws of nature, are sufficient for all of our decisions. Neuroscience is consistent with indeterminism, so it is better understood as posing a ‘threat from below’: If our decision-making processes are carried out by neural processes, then it might seem that our decisions are not based on our prior conscious deliberations or reasoning. The response to this threat will require a neurophilosophical theory of mind that makes sense of the causal role of our conscious reasons and reasoning. Without such a theory, our conscious self seems bypassed by the neural processes in our brains, and this view seems to explain why many scientists assume that neuroscience challenges free will. However, I argue that most people are amenable to the possibility of a future theory of mind that is physicalist (if not reductionist), yet preserves much of our ordinary experience and understanding of conscious decision-making and self-control. I outline such a theory using the resources of causal interventionism. I argue that this view is best understood as a minimal revision to our understanding of free will, rather than an elimination of it. And I argue that this view has more reasonable and effective implications for our moral and legal practices than an eliminativist or skeptical theory of free will

Polling as Pedagogy: Experimental Philosophy as a Valuable Tool for Teaching Philosophy

First, we briefly familiarize the reader with the emerging field of “experimental philosophy,” in which philosophers use empirical methods, rather than armchair speculation, to ascertain laypersons’ intuitions about philosophical issues. Second, we discuss how the surveys used by experimental philosophers can serve as valuable pedagogical tools for teaching philosophy—independently of whether one believes surveying laypersons is an illuminating approach to doing philosophy. Giving students surveys that contain questions and thought experiments from philosophical debates gets them to actively engage with the material and paves the way for more fruitful and impassioned classroom discussion. We offer some suggestions for how to use surveys in the classroom and provide an appendix that contains some examples of scenarios teachers could use in their courses

The Possible Role of Transplacentally-Acquired Antibodies to Infectious Agents, With Molecular Mimicry to Nervous System Sialic Acid Epitopes, as Causes of Neuromental Disorders: Prevention and Vaccine Implications

Proof of causality of most neuromental disorders (NMD's) is largely unavailable. Lessons from four-decade investigations of the epidemiology, immunology, pathogenesis, prevention and therapy of perinatal infectious agents, which invade directly the nervous system, have led us to propose a new indirect effect hypothesis: maternal transplacentally-acquired antibodies, to agents with epitope molecular mimicry with the developing nervous system, can cross the fetus/infant's blood–nervous system barriers to cause NMD's, clinically manifest years later

A clinical system for the measurement of regional metabolic rates in the brain.

The study of the chemical events that regulate the function of the human brain is particularly difficult. The introduction by Hounsfield, in 1973, of a tomographic technique based on the attenuation of X-rays by tissues has proved invaluable in the study of the morphology of the brain. An extension of this technique, employing the concepts of computerised tomography in combination with the use of specific molecules labelled with positron emitters, is now making the direct regional measurement of metabolic rates during life possible. Although some positron tomography systems are available commercially, they do not necessarily fulfil the specific needs of all researchers. Faced with the problem of quantitating the regional distribution of the essential neurotransmitter, dopamine, in the human brain a positron tomography system, which forms the basis of this work, was designed and built based on a series of experiments aimed at optimizing spatial resolution and detection efficiency. The performance of the tomograph has been evaluated through a series of phantom studies; and the system has been used to measure the local cerebral metabolic rate of glucose and the local distribution of dopamine in the healthy and diseased brain. It is felt that the ability of this tomograph to resolve metabolic structures in the brain as small as 10[3] mm[3] will only be surpassed at the cost of unduly increasing the radiation dose to the subject. The results of positron tomographic studies performed using different positron labelled molecules and those obtained using X-ray computerized tomographic techniques and magnetic resonance techniques in the same subject have been compared. The results have been found to be complementary, each technique providing a clue to the proper understanding of the functioning of the brain

Changing identities: The role of language in migration: A life-course perspective

This paper investigates the interrelations between language, identity and migration through the retrospective viewpoint of two European Jewish migrants arriving in Israel in the late 1940's. Their individual migration experiences and the concomitant change of their main languages coincide with a larger scale attempt at forging a new national identity in the then newly established State of Israel. Based mainly on the analysis of interviews, but also drawing on Social Identity Theory and the Ethnolinguistic Identity Theory, it is suggested that language may be – and in this case has been – used as a means to establish a new identity and distance oneself from an older, unwanted one. Finally, some parallels with other migration contexts are considered and ideas for future research are suggested.This paper investigates the interrelations between language, identity and migration through the retrospective viewpoint of two European Jewish migrants arriving to Israel in the late 1940's, whereby their individual migration experiences and the concomitant change of their main languages coincide with a larger scale attempt at forging a new national identity in the then newly established State of Israel. Based mainly on the analysis of the interviews but also drawing on Social Identity Theory and the Ethnolinguistic Identity Theory it is suggested that language may be - and in this case has been - used as a means to establish a new identity and distance oneself from an older, unwanted one. Finally, some parallels with other migration contexts are considered and ideas for future research are suggested