Libertarian Freedom Experiment
Ross,
I went over to thinkingdeeply.com and saw this post. I know what libertarian freedom is, but can you translate this for me?
"Benjamin Libet conducted a series of experiments that seem to undermine a libertarian view of free will. In Libet’s experiments, each subject was asked to form spontaneously an intention to wiggle his or her finger within a thirty second time interval. When the subject decisively formed the intention, he was instructed to note the time this occurs. While subjects were deciding when to wiggle their fingers, Libet was measuring the neural activity in each person. Libet discovered that a significant increase in neural activity typically preceded the reported time when the agent claimed to have formed the intention (on average by about 500 milliseconds). In other words, the physical causal nexus was well-established to guarantee the resultant action before the agent had decisively formed an intention to act in a certain way. The results of the experiment led Libet to conclude that a person’s feeling of willing was actually ineffectual to bringing about the intended action. Instead, Libet concluded that one’s experience of conscious willing is caused to occur by unconscious physical events. If this is so, then there seems to be scientific data that rules out the efficacy of a person’s will."
Thanks.
I went over to thinkingdeeply.com and saw this post. I know what libertarian freedom is, but can you translate this for me?
"Benjamin Libet conducted a series of experiments that seem to undermine a libertarian view of free will. In Libet’s experiments, each subject was asked to form spontaneously an intention to wiggle his or her finger within a thirty second time interval. When the subject decisively formed the intention, he was instructed to note the time this occurs. While subjects were deciding when to wiggle their fingers, Libet was measuring the neural activity in each person. Libet discovered that a significant increase in neural activity typically preceded the reported time when the agent claimed to have formed the intention (on average by about 500 milliseconds). In other words, the physical causal nexus was well-established to guarantee the resultant action before the agent had decisively formed an intention to act in a certain way. The results of the experiment led Libet to conclude that a person’s feeling of willing was actually ineffectual to bringing about the intended action. Instead, Libet concluded that one’s experience of conscious willing is caused to occur by unconscious physical events. If this is so, then there seems to be scientific data that rules out the efficacy of a person’s will."
Thanks.
posted by Charlie Wallace at 10:47 PM
7 Comments:
Hmmmmm.....I'm baffled that anyone could think they really learned anything from this "experiment." What a waste of time!!!
Sorry, Michael. Didn't mean to leave you out of the discussion, but Ross had that site listed on his link column.
I wouldn't take that experiment too seriously. I'm hold to meticulous providence, yet I do also accept the idea of concurrence, which says God wills each and every action, no matter how minute while at the same time we also do so willingly. This experiment tends to excise the human element from decision making. Just my two cents worth.
Looks like what the experiment is trying to show is that the brain activity preceded the exercise of the free action. If this is so, then there is no such thing as contra-causal freedom (LFW) but only physicially determined choices. In other words, Libet is trying to prove that brain activity precedes a choice.
The initial implausibility I see is that there has to be some time between the actual time that I form an intention and the reporting of the fact that I formed an intention.
ah ha, the missing link.
The experiment might not be so relevant to more complex forms of decision making.
God Bless
Matthew
good point, matthew.
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