Uploaded July 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Cognitive neuroscientist Patrick Haggard on the definition of voluntary action, what are the underlying mental processes of volition and whether we have a conscious free will.
Read the full text on our website: serious-science.org/voluntary-action-10041
'We make actions all the time and maybe these famous voluntary actions which we consider so important for our free will and for our individual autonomy are not controlled at all, maybe they're just spontaneous bits of neural noise which we occasionally produce. If our voluntary actions were just noise, you would expect the brain to be doing all kinds of things before the action happens, there'd be no pattern.'
Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London
Neurophilosophy and Free Will: serious-science.org/neurophilosophy-and-free-will-5184
Free Will and Moral Responsibility: serious-science.org/free-will-and-moral-responsibility-5667
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Cognitive neuroscientist Patrick Haggard on the definition of voluntary action, what are the underlying mental processes of volition and whether we have a conscious free will.
Read the full text on our website: serious-science.org/voluntary-action-10041
'We make actions all the time and maybe these famous voluntary actions which we consider so important for our free will and for our individual autonomy are not controlled at all, maybe they're just spontaneous bits of neural noise which we occasionally produce. If our voluntary actions were just noise, you would expect the brain to be doing all kinds of things before the action happens, there'd be no pattern.'
Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London
Neurophilosophy and Free Will: serious-science.org/neurophilosophy-and-free-will-5184
Free Will and Moral Responsibility: serious-science.org/free-will-and-moral-responsibility-5667
Be the first to find out about our new videos and articles. Learn interesting facts about various topics and people. Discover the answers to the big questions. Be in the know.
serious-science.org
Follow us:
We are on Patreon: patreon.com/SeriousScience
Facebook — facebook.com/serious.science.org
Twitter — twitter.com/scienceserious
YouTube — youtube.com/user/SeriousScience
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