The Volitional Brain: Towards a Neuroscience of Free Will

Libet, Benjamin [Editor]; Freeman, Anthony [Editor]; Sutherland, Keith [Editor];

ISBN 10: 0907845509 / ISBN 13: 9780907845508

Published by Imprint Academic, 1999

About this Item

[From the library of noted scholar William E. Connolly.] Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Shelf wear. Scattered underlining and markings by Connolly. xxii, 298 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm. "William E. Connolly is Krieger-Eisenhower Professor in the political science department at Hopkins where he teaches political theory. His early book, The Terms of Political Discourse, was awarded the Benjamin Lippincott Award in 1999 as 'a work of exceptional quality that is still considered significant at least 15 years after publication.' In a poll of American political theorists published in PS in 2010, he was ranked the fourth most influential political theorist in America over the last twenty years, after Rawls, Habermas, and Foucault. His work focuses on the issues of democratic pluralism, capitalism, inequality, fascism, and bumpy intersections between capitalism and planetary amplifiers in climate change." - Johns Hopkins University.

Seller Inventory # 2211030153

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Volitional Brain: Towards a Neuroscience of Free Will
• Publisher: Imprint Academic
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0907845509
• ISBN 13: 9780907845508
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 27 ounces
• Seller catalogs:
  • Psychology

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Author

Benjamin Libet trained in neurophysiology with Ralph Gerard, K.A.C. Elliott and Sir John Eccles. In 1958 he began a series of experimental studies (in human subjects) relating brain activities to the appearance or production of a conscious experience. This was made possible by a collaboration with the neurosurgeon, Bertram Feinstein. The results and their implications represented experimental discoveries of some unique time factors in the neural production of awareness.

Anthony Freeman is managing editor of the Journal of Consciousness Studies and a priest in the Church of England. He holds degrees in chemistry and theology from the University of Oxford. His books include God in Us: A Case for Christian Humanism (SCM: 1993) and Gospel Treasure (SPCK: 1999).