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The Freedom Paradox | Daniel Dennett, Helen Steward, Patrick Haggard



The Institute of Art and Ideas

Daniel Dennett, Patrick Haggard and Helen Steward debate the existence of free will.

Watch the full debate at https://iai.tv/video/the-freedom-paradox?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=the%20freedom%20paradox

Many neuroscientists and philosophers argue that there is no such thing as free will. Some even claim experiment has proved this to be the case. Yet the behaviour of the same scientists and philosophers appears to assume their own freedom – when formulating and promoting their own theory for example.

To avoid this paradox, should we accept that free will is an illusion and as a consequence cease to praise our children when they do well, and refrain from punishing murderers when they are caught? Or is the denial of free will a mistake driven by the desire to avoid a profound conflict with the scientific assumption that its laws alone govern the universe?

#cognitivescience #freewill #mind

Daniel Clement Dennett III is an American philosopher, writer, and cognitive scientist whose research centres on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and philosophy of biology, particularly related to evolutionary biology and cognitive science.

Helen Steward is Professor of Philosophy of Mind and Action at the University of Leeds. Her interests include the metaphysics and ontology of mind and agency; the free will problem; the relation between humans and animals; and the philosophy of causation and explanation.

Deputy director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at UCL, Patrick Haggard is a neuroscientist specialising in questions of free will.

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7 thoughts on “The Freedom Paradox | Daniel Dennett, Helen Steward, Patrick Haggard
  1. Thanks for the video ..great and timely discussion….There is free will it is called freedom .Freedom is doing anything …what regulates freedom ?? Laws ….interesting the Constitution is the Supreme Law and its heart is Freedom therefore it is a Freedom Law

    But the laws under the Constitution are regulators of freedom

    Yet crime against people is violation of human rights protected in the Constitution The Freedom law there are called constitutional offences and the violators used freedom to violate

    So use laws and also Reconciliation or Forgiveness systems to cure violations which are acts borne in freedom

  2. There is no free will, but due to the wastness of the framework everything is happening in and the sheer number of possibilities we simply can't see how everything is predetermined.

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