BS 213 Kevin Mitchell explores Free Will
Brain Science with Ginger Campbell, MD: Neuroscience for Everyone
Ginger Campbell, MD
4.8 • 896 Ratings
🗓️ 27 October 2023
⏱️ 86 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the this episode of Brain Science we talk with neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell about his new book Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will. While many neuroscientists and philosophers argue that free will is an illusion, Mitchell argues that the ability to make meaningful choices is part of our evolutionary heritage. He also addresses the important issue of determinism, siding with those physicists who argue that the fundamental nature of our universe is NOT deterministic. These issues are crucial to how we see ourselves and others.
Links and References:
- Free Agents: How Evolution Gave Us Free Will by Kevin J. Mitchell
- Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution by Carlo Rovelli
- Innate: How the Wiring of Our Brains Shapes Who We Are by Kevin J. Mitchell
- Mitchell discusses this book in BS 159.
- Kevin Mitchell, PhD (Trinity College Dublin)
- Please visit http://brainsciencepodcast.com for additional references and episode transcripts.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's finally kind of settled for me what the point is that I'm trying to make there, which is that cognition is real, right? |
| 0:06.2 | It's not an epiphenomenon. It's not an epiphenomenon to say, oh you have beliefs and desires and intentions, |
| 0:11.4 | but really all the causal work is just these |
| 0:13.9 | neurons firing. No, I reverse that. I say no, those neurons firing have causal power in |
| 0:19.0 | the system only by virtue of what they mean. If they meant something else, different things would happen. |
| 0:25.2 | If you vary the details in such a way that they mean the same thing, you don't affect what happens. I'm your host Dr. Ginger Campbell and this is episode 213. |
| 0:45.0 | Please visit brain science podcast.com for complete show notes and episode transcripts. |
| 0:51.0 | You can also send me feedback at brain science podcast at gmail.com. |
| 0:55.0 | Today I will be talking with neuroscientist Kevin Mitchell about his new book |
| 1:01.0 | Free Agents How Evolution Gave Us Free Will. |
| 1:06.5 | I hope you've had a chance to listen to last month's Encore episode with philosopher |
| 1:12.1 | Thomas Metzinger because he made several points that are |
| 1:15.6 | very relevant to today's discussion. First he emphasized that consciousness is a |
| 1:22.0 | biological process generated by the interaction of the brain, body, and world. |
| 1:28.0 | In fact, the body is so important that when the brain lacks access to information from the body, it replaces that |
| 1:36.9 | information with experiences that include dreams and even out-of-body |
| 1:41.7 | sensations. |
| 1:43.0 | But if you read much neuroscience, |
| 1:45.0 | you're probably aware that many neuroscientists |
| 1:48.0 | and philosophers have concluded that free will, |
| 1:51.0 | which is our ability to make independent choices, is an illusion. |
| 1:56.7 | There are many versions of this position, but to be honest, it has never really resonated for me, which is why I was drawn to Dr. Mitchell's |
... |
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