creators_name: Velmans, Max type: journalp datestamp: 2004-01-17 lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:55:27 metadata_visibility: show title: PRECONSCIOUS FREE WILL ispublished: pub subjects: neuro-psy subjects: cog-psy subjects: phil-mind full_text_status: public keywords: free will, consciousness, preconscious, brain, causal relationship, first-person, third-person, self, mens rea, responsibility, law, control, mental processes, Libet, Mangan, Claxton, Bouratinos, ERP, event related potential, readiness potential, dual-aspect, mental field, illusion, dualism, physicalism, inhibition, decision, control, William James abstract: This paper responds to continuing commentary on Velmans (2002a) “How could conscious experiences affect brains,” a target article for a special issue of JCS. I focus on the final question dealt with by the target article: how free will relates to preconscious and conscious mental processing, and I develop the case for preconscious free will. Although “preconscious free will” might appear to be a contradiction in terms, it is consistent with the scientific evidence and provides a parsimonious way to reconcile the commonsense view that voluntary acts are freely chosen with the evidence that conscious wishes and decisions are determined by preconscious processing in the mind/brain. I consider alternative interpretations of how “conscious free will” might operate by Libet and by Mangan and respond to doubts about the extent to which the operations of mind are revealed in consciousness, raised by Claxton and Bouratinos. In reconciling commonsense attributions of freedom and responsibility with the findings of science, preconscious free will can be shown to have practical consequences for adjudications in law. date: 2003 date_type: published publication: Journal of Consciousness Studies volume: 10 number: 12 pagerange: 42-61 refereed: TRUE referencetext: Bakan, D. (1980) On the effect of mind on matter, in R. W. Rieber (ed.) 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International Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 81-96. citation: Velmans, Prof Max (2003) PRECONSCIOUS FREE WILL. [Journal (Paginated)] document_url: http://cogprints.org/3382/1/Cogprints_PRECONSCIOUS_FREE_WILL.htm