Free Will: Egnor shows neurological proof (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, November 10, 2020, 00:28 (1475 days ago) @ David Turell

In this essay:

https://mindmatters.ai/2020/10/neuroscience-can-help-us-understand-why-free-will-is-real/

"There are three lines of evidence supporting the reality of free will: Neuroscience, physics and philosophy all point to the fact that free will is real. In this post, I’ll discuss the neuroscience. But first, we must start by understanding what free will is. Erroneous definition of free will is at the root of many mistakes inherent in denying it.

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"Only abstract reason/rational appetite is the will part of free will. Sensitive appetite is not part of the will—it is a passion based wholly on material factors—my brain chemistry, etc. Sensitive appetite is not free—this kind of appetite is indeed dictated by my molecules and neurotransmitters. I can condition it and override it but in itself, it is wholly material and subject to the laws of nature.

"My will—my rational appetite—is an immaterial power of my mind. My will can be influenced by my passions but it is inherently free of material determinism of any kind. For example, my decision whether or not to eat that piece of cake is the result of the struggle between my material passions and my immaterial will—between my sensitive and my rational appetite.

"Now that we have a satisfactory definition of will, what do we mean by free will? Philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas gave the best answer: My free will is inclination based on abstract reasoning that arises wholly from me. Nothing other than me determines my will. I determine my will and my will is an immaterial power of my soul. In this specific sense, I have free will.

"Now let’s get to the neuroscience. Neuroscience has a lot to contribute to the debate over free will and all of it supports the reality of free will. There isn’t a shred of neuroscientific evidence that contradicts the reality of free will.

"Two major types of experiments address the question of free will:

"The first is the experiments of Benjamin Libet, ... Libet found that we have pre-conscious impulses characterized by spikes in brain waves that precede conscious decisions by about a half-second. But he also found that these pre-conscious impulses (which are not freely generated) are merely temptations. We retain the power to accept or reject them, and acceptance or rejection of these temptations is not accompanied by brain waves. Libet called this state “free won’t”: We are bombarded by temptations that are beyond our immediate control but we have the immaterial freedom to accept or reject them.

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"[ second} Penfield performed over a thousand “awake” brain operations on patients with epilepsy. He stimulated their brains and the recorded the effect of stimulation on these awake patients. He found that he was able to stimulate practically any concrete mental phenomenon—movement of limbs, perceptions of light or smell or tactile sensations, emotions, memories—but he was never able to stimulate abstract thought or free will. In his memoir, Mystery of the Mind, he concluded that abstract thought and free will (which he called ‘the mind’ as distinct from automatic responses like perceptions, movements, or emotions) did not originate in the brain, but were immaterial powers of the soul. He began his career as a strict materialist but ended his career as a convinced dualist.

"He also noted a remarkable fact: there are no intellectual seizures, and by implication, no seizures that invoke free will. There are no calculus seizures, no logic seizures, no seizures that make the patients think abstractly or will (apparently) freely. There are no seizures that make you choose to be a Republican or a Democrat, no seizures that make you Christian or Jewish, no seizures that make you apply certain kinds of logic to a problem rather than another kind of logic. This is remarkable: if the will is merely the product of brain activity, at least some seizures should evoke will. They never do. Many seizures do feature complex manifestations (they’re called complex partial seizures), but these complex seizures always involve concrete thoughts and actions —perceptions, emotions, and stereotypic movements. There are no seizures that invoke abstract thought or abstract decisions—there are no free will seizures.

"This remains true to this day. There are no reports in the medical literature—despite literally billons of seizures suffered by patients in the modern era—of any seizure that replicates free will. This remarkable fact—literally based on billions of data points—clearly shows that the will is not determined by the material state of the brain. If the will were determined by neural activity, the will—abstract choice based on reason—would at least occasionally be replicated by seizures. It never is.

Comment: I'm with Penfield. Egnor is a neurosurgeon. And so my proof of dualism is in this essay. The soul uses the brain to produce abstract thought. As a result the complexity of that thought is absolutely dependent on the current ability of that brain to allow that level of abstract thought. It depends on Egnor's definition of will based on Aquinas. It must be of abstract origin. I didn't include it here but read Egnor's discussion of temptation by a delicious piece of cake as not applying. For chocoholics will is presented by denying the wish to eat it.