Is freedom rooted in the brain?

Abstract

This article first of all attempts to provide a new concept of human nature, beyond that of traditional metaphysics and the naturalistic interpretation of today’s neurosciences; it thus surpasses the unilateral scientistic appropriation of the concept of human nature and defends a biohermeneutics containing a plurality of standpoints for understanding human reality, as in Habermasian epistemic dualism. It secondly examines whether freedom is rooted in the brain in the sense of «free will» and of «autonomy», taking into account the stance of accredited neurologists and the study of natural dispositions in the Kantian notion of moral autonomy.

Keywords

• naturaleza humana
• neurociencias
• biohermenéutica
• libertad
• libre albedrio
• autonomía
• Kant
• Habermas