Is Science Compatible with Our Desire for Freedom?
Barcelona, Spain | October 28-30, 2010
Meeting Summary: When faced with a conflict between human freedom and a deterministic neuroscience, two rational positions are possible: either human freedom is an illusion, or deterministic neuroscience is not the last word about the brain and will eventually be superseded by a neuroscience admitting processes not completely determined by the past. Accordingly, this Experts Meeting aims to investigate whether it is possible to have a science in which there is room for human freedom, and in particular whether today’s quantum physics might offer an appropriate framework for this purpose.
Principal Inquiries: • Does today’s quantum physics offer a framework that might be capable of coping with free will and other non-material principles?
• Is there room in today’s biology and neuroscience for free will, personal identity, self-consciousness, and religious experiences?
• Does deterministic science rule out the possibility of moral and legal responsibility?
Confirmed Participants:
Speakers: (Session 1)
Leonardo Fogassi (& Giacomo Rizzolatti) - University of Parma
The Mirror Mechanism as Neurophysiological Basis for Interpersonal Communication Susan Greenfield - Oxford University
Can Neuroscience Explain or Refute Free Will and Personal Identity?
Flavio Keller - Università Campus Bio-Medico Di Roma
Contemporary Concepts of Motor Control: Is There a Place for Free Will?Martin Heisenberg - University of Würzburg
The Role of Objective Chance in the Brain and Behaviour José Manuel Giménez Amaya - Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Neuroscience and Freedom
(Session 2)
Gilles Brassard - Université de Montréal
Can Free Will Emerge from Determinism in Quantum Theory?
Nicolas Gisin - Université de Genève
Are There Quantum Effects Coming from Outside Space-time? Nonlocality, Free Will and ”no Many-Worlds”Zeeya Merali - Freelance Science Writer
Are Humans the Only Free Agents in the Universe? Atonio Acín - The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
True Quantum Randomness
Antoine Suarez - Center for Quantum Philosophy
Does Free Will Require New Physics? (Session 3)
Bob Doyle - Harvard University
The Two-Stage Solution to the Problem of Free Will
Luís Cabral - IESE Business School
Are the Laws of Economics Compatible with Free Will? Alfred Mele - Florida State University
Effective Intentions: The Power of Conscious Will Robert Kane - University of Texas
Can a Traditional Incompatibilist or Libertarian Free Will Be Made Consistent With Modern Science? Steps Toward a Positive Answer Jean Staune - Université Interdisciplinaire de Paris
Towards a Non-materialist Realism
Moderator:
Peter Adams - Thomas More Institute
Discussants:
Franz Heukamp - IESE Business School
Maciej Lewenstein - The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
Jack Valero - Thomas More Institute
Assistants:
Nicholas Teh - Cambridge University
Russell Wilcox - Thomas More Institute
For more information please e-mail
info@socialtrendsinstitute.org
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