The wild ways of conscious will: what we do, how we do it, and why it has meaning

It is becoming increasingly mainstream to claim that conscious will is an illusion. This assertion is based on a host of findings that indicate conscious will does not share an efficient-cause relationship with actions. As an alternative, the present paper will propose that conscious will is not abo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in psychology 2013, Vol.4, p.574-574
Main Author: Jordan, J Scott
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Action control
Cerebellum
Consciousness
event control
Prospective Cognition
Psychology
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:It is becoming increasingly mainstream to claim that conscious will is an illusion. This assertion is based on a host of findings that indicate conscious will does not share an efficient-cause relationship with actions. As an alternative, the present paper will propose that conscious will is not about causing actions, but rather, about constraining action systems toward producing outcomes. In addition, it will be proposed that we generate and sustain multiple outcomes simultaneously because the multi-scale dynamics by which we do so are, themselves, self-sustaining. Finally, it will be proposed that self-sustaining dynamics entail meaning (i.e., conscious content) because they naturally and necessarily constitute embodiments of context.
ISSN:1664-1078
1664-1078
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00574