---
abstract: 'Wegner’s analysis of the illusion of conscious will is close to my own account of how conscious experiences relate to brain processes. But our analyses differ somewhat on how conscious will is not an illusion. Wegner argues that once conscious will arises it enters causally into subsequent mental processing. I argue that while his causal story is accurate, it remains a first-person story. Conscious free will is not an illusion in the sense that this first-person story is compatible with and complementary to a third-person account of voluntary processing in the mind/brain. '
altloc: []
chapter: ~
commentary: ~
commref: 'Wegner, D. (2002) The Illusion of Conscious Will. MIT Press.'
confdates: ~
conference: ~
confloc: ~
contact_email: ~
creators_id: []
creators_name:
- family: Velmans
given: Max
honourific: Prof
lineage: ''
date: 2004
date_type: published
datestamp: 2004-01-17
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dir: disk0/00/00/33/84
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eprintid: 3384
fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/text_html.png;/3384/1/Cogprints_Wegner_commentary_by_Velmans.htm
full_text_status: public
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ispublished: inpress
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keywords: 'Wegner, free will, conscious, preconscious, unconscious, illusion, mind, brain, causal interaction, first-person, third-person'
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:55:27
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metadata_visibility: show
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pubdom: FALSE
publication: Behavioral and Brain Sciences
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refereed: FALSE
referencetext: |
Velmans, M. (1991a) Is human information processing conscious? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14(4): 651-669.
Velmans, M. (1991b) Consciousness from a first-person perspective. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14(4): 702-726.
Velmans, M. (1993) Consciousness, causality and complementarity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16(2): 409-416.
Velmans, M. (1996) Consciousness and the “causal paradox”. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 19(3): 537-542.
Velmans, M. (2000) Understanding Consciousness. London: Routledge/Psychology Press.
Velmans, M.(2002a) How could conscious experiences affect brains? Journal of Consciousness Studies 9(11): 3-29.
relation_type: []
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reportno: ~
rev_number: 8
series: ~
source: ~
status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:50:40
subjects:
- neuro-psy
- cog-psy
- phil-mind
succeeds: ~
suggestions: ~
sword_depositor: ~
sword_slug: ~
thesistype: ~
title: WHY CONSCIOUS FREE WILL BOTH IS AND ISN’T AN ILLUSION
type: journalp
userid: 156
volume: ~