2008 Workshop on Free Will

CALL FOR POSTER SUBMISSIONS AND REGISTRATION

One day meeting organised by the Consciousness & Experiential Psychology Section of the BPS

CONSCIOUS INTENTION, AGENCY AND FREE WILL: NEUROSCIENTIFIC AND EXPERIENTIAL PERSPECTIVES

Saturday November 22^nd 2008

At the British Psychological Society, London.

This is a first call for poster submissions for presentation at this one day event (details below). Please send a short abstract (Maximum 200 words) by email to gethin.hughes@psy.ox.ac.uk.

Registration fees will be £12 (£6 for students). In addition, we will be offering a number of student bursaries to cover travel expenses. If you wish to be considered for a student bursary please note this in your poster submission.

Please email Gethin Hughes on the address above if you would like to register to attend the meeting but do not wish to present a poster.

CONSCIOUS INTENTION, AGENCY AND FREE WILL: NEUROSCIENTIFIC AND EXPERIENTIAL PERSPECTIVES

Libet (1983) famously showed that when we prepare a voluntary act we only become conscious of the intention to act some 300ms after the brain has begun programming the action. Libet suggested that this finding seriously questions the idea that conscious intentions have any causal role in initiation of action. However, Libet himself suggests that consciousness may still intervene to veto the unconsciously initiated action, providing a kind of conscious "free won’t". Another common suggestion is that whilst the intention in action (or proximal intention) studied by Libet may be initiated unconsciously, prior conscious intentions may still play a role in action. Is it possible to salvage the common sense notion of free will using these approaches, or is the experience of conscious free will, as Wegner suggests, nothing more than an illusion? This one day conference will focus on the role of conscious intentions in action, as well as the experience that we are rational agents. In particular, on how this is experience of agency is constructed and on whether it is an accurate representation of our actions in society.

Confirmed speakers include: Professor Max Velmans (Goldsmiths, University of London), Dr Chloe Farrer (Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Toulouse, France) and Dr Elisabeth Pacherie (Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France). More speakers to be announced.