Our subjective inner life is what really matters to us as human beings--and yet we know relatively little about how it arises. Over a long and distinguished career Benjamin Libet has conducted experiments that have helped us see, in clear and concrete ways, how the brain produces conscious awareness. For the first time, Libet gives his own account of these experiments and their importance for our understanding of consciousness.
Most notably, Libet's experiments reveal a substantial delay--the "mind time" of the title--before any awareness affects how we view our mental activities. If...
Our subjective inner life is what really matters to us as human beings--and yet we know relatively little about how it arises. Over a long and dist...
and made insignificant in practice, by selecting for study simple kinds of ex- periences which are devoid of emotional content and which can be tested for reliability. A simple somatosensory ''raw feel" fulfills these characteristics (see papers nos. 2,5). In any case, if we fail to find ways to use introspective reports in convincingly acceptable studies we would give up the ability to investigate the relation between conscious experience and neural activity, something warned against by William James (Krech, 1969). Another factor in the dearth of direct experimental studies is, of course,...
and made insignificant in practice, by selecting for study simple kinds of ex- periences which are devoid of emotional content and which can be tested...
It is widely accepted in science that the universe is a closed deterministic system in which everything can, ultimately, be explained by purely physical causation. And yet we all experience ourselves as having the freedom to choose between alternatives presented to us we are in the driving seat. The puzzling status of volition is explored in this issue by a distinguished body of scientists and philosophers."
It is widely accepted in science that the universe is a closed deterministic system in which everything can, ultimately, be explained by purely physic...
