Synopses & Reviews
As human beings, we see ourselves as rational, ethical, language-using, political agents who possess free will. Yet we know we exist in a universe that consists of mindless, meaningless physical particles. Is there a conflict between these two visions, and if so, how can we resolve it?
John Searle opens with an essay demonstrating how different conceptions of free will would have different consequences for the neurobiology of consciousness; therefore, he proposes, it is possible that we might find a neurobiological resolution to the problem of free will. His second essay applies his theory of social reality to the problem of political power, explaining the role of language in the constitution of political reality. For this volume, Searle has written a special introduction in which he situates the problems discussed in the book within the larger context of his overall research project. In it he explains the relationship between human reality and the more fundamental reality as described by physics and chemistry.
Freedom and Neurobiology is an important contribution to the study of cognition and is essential reading for students and scholars of the philosophy of the mind.