Neuroscience and the free will problem

Abstract

The free will problem examines whether people can control their behaviours or not. This problem is highly debated in philosophy. It is a multidimensional phenomenon and it includes social, ethical and psychological aspects. In this thesis, the free will problem will be analyzed from the philosophical and scientific aspects and it will be accordingly claimed that Libet‘s experiment (1983) was not successful in terms of evaluating the problem. The scientific and philosophical causes of this failure will be analyzed and thus a simplistic, an introductory and an alternative concept of free will shall be proposed in the end.