creators_name: Velmans, Max
type: journalp
datestamp: 2004-01-17
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:55:27
metadata_visibility: show
title: WHY CONSCIOUS FREE WILL BOTH IS AND ISN’T AN ILLUSION
ispublished: inpress
subjects: neuro-psy
subjects: cog-psy
subjects: phil-mind
full_text_status: public
keywords: Wegner, free will, conscious, preconscious, unconscious, illusion, mind, brain, causal interaction, first-person, third-person
abstract: Wegner’s analysis of the illusion of conscious will is close to my own account of how conscious experiences relate to brain processes. But our analyses differ somewhat on how conscious will is not an illusion.  Wegner argues that once conscious will arises it enters causally into subsequent mental processing.  I argue that while his causal story is accurate, it remains a first-person story.  Conscious free will is not an illusion in the sense that this first-person story is compatible with and complementary to a third-person account of voluntary processing in the mind/brain. 
date: 2004
date_type: published
publication: Behavioral and Brain Sciences
refereed: FALSE
referencetext: Velmans, M. (1991a) Is human information processing conscious? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14(4): 651-669. 

Velmans, M. (1991b) Consciousness from a first-person perspective. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 14(4): 702-726. 

Velmans, M. (1993) Consciousness, causality and complementarity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 16(2): 409-416. 

Velmans, M. (1996) Consciousness and the “causal paradox”. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 19(3): 537-542. 

Velmans, M. (2000) Understanding Consciousness. London: Routledge/Psychology Press.

Velmans, M.(2002a)  How could conscious experiences affect brains? Journal of Consciousness Studies 9(11): 3-29.

citation:   Velmans, Prof Max  (2004) WHY CONSCIOUS FREE WILL BOTH IS AND ISN’T AN ILLUSION.  [Journal (Paginated)]    (In Press)  
document_url: http://cogprints.org/3384/1/Cogprints_Wegner_commentary_by_Velmans.htm