Science and philosophy on agency and free will

O dřej Ha líček ohavlicek@gmail.com www.ondrejhavlicek.com 2013-06-13 GSN Retreat @ Chiemsee ohavlicek@gmail.com Science and philosophy on agency and free will 1 • Science and philosophy • Example 1: Free will • Example 2: Sense of agency • Conclusions ohavlicek@gmail.com Outline 2 Science and philosophy • Especially cognitive and behavioral sciences form their theories and explanations in high-level concepts • Short term vs. long term & declarative vs. procedural memory, internally vs. externally driven actions ... • The whole business of philosophy is essentially a conceptual work • Philosophy ..., as a effo t to get clearer on things, is not to be distinguished in essential points of purpose and method from good a d ad s ie e. (Quine 1960) ohavlicek@gmail.com • Science necessarily works with concepts • How can they benefit from each other? 3 ohavlicek@gmail.com Science has disproved FW! 4 Concepts of free will • Ability to do otherwise (in exactly the same circumstances) • Exemption from the laws of physics: we are prime movers like the God (Chisholm) • Consciousness/mind is a separate substance with causal power • Incompatibilism, metaphysical libertarianism, ... • Natural powers - within the reach of science! • • • • • • Rational deliberation A ti g fo o e’s o easo s Pursuit of goals consistent with beliefs and desires Planning Self-control Compatibilism (Distinction by Eddy Nahmias) ohavlicek@gmail.com • Supernatural powers 5 Which is the real free will? • The e is o eal free-will-in-itself • Some scientists (and philosophers alike) assume that supernatural powers are necessary for free will • A notion of FW should be useful (for the speakers of the language) and (at least somewhat) consistent with intuitions If the philosophical debates end up being about something disconnected from these ordinary beliefs and practices, it will be, in the worst sense of the term, a merely academic de ate • What are the intuitive requirements that people actually have for having a free will? • What is the notion useful for? • Attribution of responsibility • What are the requirements for moral responsibility? ohavlicek@gmail.com • But necessary by what criterion? 6 Experimental philosophy I my experience, most ordinary persons start out as natural i o pati ilists …. Ordinary persons have to be talked out of this atu al i o pati ilis y the le e a gu e ts of philosophe s. (Kane 1999) • Really? Get out of the armchair and test it! ohavlicek@gmail.com Percentage of participants who agreed that agents make decisions of their own free will (FW) and are morally responsible for their decisions (MR). 100 FW Neuro % agree 80 FW Psych 60 40 MR Neuro 20 MR Psych 0 Real Ertan 7 Nahmias, Coates, Kvaran 2007 Sense of agency • Very hot topic of research, dozens of studies • • • • How can it be manipulated? Why can it break down in schizophrenia patients? What are the cognitive processes? What are the neural correlates? ohavlicek@gmail.com • Why do we experience actions as voluntary? 8 ohavlicek@gmail.com It’s the whole brain! 9 (David, Newen, Vogeley, 2008) • • • • • sense of agency sense of ownership feeling of agency judgment of agency experience of agency • • • • • experience of authorship experience of intentionality experience of purposiveness experience of freedom experience of mental causation • • • • • • • • awareness of a goal awareness of an intention to act awareness of initiation of action awareness of movements sense of activity sense of mental effort sense of physical effort sense of control • • • • • • urge vs. intention distal intention proximal intention motor intention decision control ohavlicek@gmail.com Conceptual confusions 10 Methodological confusions • What concept does my paradigm investigate? • Is the method appropriate? • Explicit methods - Ask the people! • Ho • Was it you ho p odu ed the to e? • Was it you ho as liste i g to the to e? u h did you feel in control of p odu i g this to e? • Asking for things people cannot know • Asking strange or nonsensical questions ohavlicek@gmail.com • Asking about ambiguous concepts • Implicit methods – “o e o je ti e phe o e o is usually asso iated ith the su je ti e phe o e o i uestio • Modulation of N1 ERP, shift of PSE, change in duration estimate... • Can we claim that the subjective feeling of agency was also changed? • To which of these concepts does the implicit measure relate? 11 Conclusions • Philosophical discussions can be informed by science • Empirical findings about natural phenomena (the mind) • natural powers related to free will • intuitions about free will and moral responsibility • Science can be informed by philosophy • Interpretation of results • claims about free will • claims about subjective experiences ohavlicek@gmail.com • Investigation of folk intuitions • Formation of theories • conceptual distinctions and clarifications, JoA vs. FoA • Design of experiments • target a specified concept • with appropriate methods 12 Thank you! 13 ohavlicek@gmail.com