PHIL 210 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Bereitschaftspotential
1 Feb 2016
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Libet recorded brain activity with the use of an eeg, and compared the brain activity with the physical actions of the subjects. The experiment showed that brain activity ( readiness potential or rp ) occurred before the subject believed that they had made a decision. Some claimed that these results give strong evidence of speculation towards the idea of free will. That the conscious decision to act is arrived through an unconscious brain process rather than through deliberative process. Others, such as libet, object this idea arguing a kind of free will could still intervene in the form of conscious veto of the unconsciously initiated action. Pacherie states another route of will-skepticism involves interpreting libet"s data as showing two independent effects caused by the readiness potential. One hand causes the action itself, the other causes the conscious experience of intending. Conscious intentions do not causally contribute to action initiation, and believing so is falling for an illusion.
