Libero arbitrio e neuroscienze: verso un modello naturalistico delle scelte coscienti

Abstract

Free Will and Neuroscience: Towards a Naturalistic Model of Conscious Choice - This paper aims at exploring the possibility of redefining the concept of freedom from a naturalistic standpoint. On the one hand, it is argued that conceptions of freedom that seek to preserve man’s privileged position in the world suffer from an “almost theological” component. On the other hand, two important theories developed in neurobiology are analyzed (epigenesis of neuronal networks by selective stabilization of synapses and neural darwinism) in order to highlight a conception of freedom far from the idea of a “liberum arbitrium indifferentiae” as the ability to choose from paths of experiences stabilized by selective processes. From this perspective, freedom is the ability of individuals to act as a consequence of experiences stabilized over the course of a lifetime.

Keywords

• Freedom
• Naturalism
• Determinism
• Epigenetics
• Selection