Do humans have free will?. Examine the neuroscientific and philosophical evidence.

Instructor: Peter Tse

What you'll learn

  •   How arguments from philosophers and evidence from neuroscientists contribute to the conversation about free will.
  •   To deploy these ideas to challenge assumptions of determinism in discussion and debate.
  •   How the bridge between behavior and neurobiology, and the links between attention and consciousness build our understanding of our own free will.

    • Skills you'll gain

  •   Cultural Diversity
  •   Social Sciences
  •   Science and Research
  •   Creativity
  •   Scientific Methods
  •   Experimentation
  •   Motion Arguments
  •   Mindfulness
  •   Biology
  •   Culture
  •   Liberal Arts
  •   Neurology

    • Specialization - 3 course series

    This Specialization is comprised of three separate courses: The Basics of Libertarian Free Will, Free Will and Neuroscience, and Neural Basis of Imagination, Free Will, and Morality. Within each course there are a variety of quizzes, videos, and assignments.

    Module one of the course will help you discover the differences between freedom from constraint and freedom within constraint. It will also help you to define truth and reality as they relate to our perceptions. The second module will explore concepts such as causation and criterial causations. You will be able to define consciousness as it relates to our mental and physical worlds. The third and the final module of this course will explore the core idea behind free will and analyze why arguments for or against free will are categorized in terms of their compatibility with determinism. You will also be able to compare the two types of libertarian free will.

    Module one of the course will explore two neuroscientific arguments against free will from Libet and Wegner and evaluate neuroscientists’ arguments against free will. You will also examine where these experiments do not succeed in debunking free will. In module two, the anatomy and physiology of neurons will be described. You will also learn how they communicate. You will have an understanding about neural anatomy and physiology to consciousness, attention, and free will. In the final and the third module of the course, you will explore an example of the top-down influence on bottom-up processing called volitional attention. You will see how neural circuits responsible for both volitional and non-volitional thought and action interact with each other. Next, you will learn how a neural circuit can change its physical structure and function, and how these changes might impact human behavior.

    In module one of the course, you will explore the evidence of imagination derived from artifacts. This module examines the brain changes that caused the innovativeness of human imagination. The relation between the first and the second-order desires and free will also be discussed. In the second module, you will learn how we imagine and judge what is right versus what is wrong. You will also learn to differentiate between immoral and amoral acts and explore the origin of morality, evil, and human goodness. While comparing the relationship between science and religion, you'll understand how to realign social, cultural, and governmental structures to serve broad human interests.

    Free Will and Neuroscience

    Neural Basis of Imagination, Free Will, and Morality

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