The Volitional Brain: Towards a Neuroscience of Free Will

Libet, Benjamin [Editor]; Freeman, Anthony [Editor]; Sutherland, Keith [Editor];

ISBN 10: 0907845509 / ISBN 13: 9780907845508

Published by Imprint Academic, 1999

About this Item

[From the library of noted scholar William E. Connolly.] Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Shelf wear. Scattered underlining and markings by Connolly. xxii, 298 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm. "William E. Connolly is Krieger-Eisenhower Professor in the political science department at Hopkins where he teaches political theory. His early book, The Terms of Political Discourse, was awarded the Benjamin Lippincott Award in 1999 as 'a work of exceptional quality that is still considered significant at least 15 years after publication.' In a poll of American political theorists published in PS in 2010, he was ranked the fourth most influential political theorist in America over the last twenty years, after Rawls, Habermas, and Foucault. His work focuses on the issues of democratic pluralism, capitalism, inequality, fascism, and bumpy intersections between capitalism and planetary amplifiers in climate change." - Johns Hopkins University. Seller Inventory # 2211030153

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Volitional Brain: Towards a Neuroscience...

Publisher: Imprint Academic

Publication Date: 1999

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis:

Am I responsible for my actions? or is freewill an illusion? Many scientists and philosophers claim that everything, including our own actions, is pre-determined. If that is the case then no-one is responsible for their actions, so punishment could be considered an inappropriate response to crime. This text debates the viewpoints of both "sceptics" and "libertarians" looking at the evidence from science, psychology and philosophy. Contributors include: David Hodgson, Jaron Lanier, Thomas Clark and Wolfgang Schultz.

Review:

A rich collection of interesting speculation and fascinating scientific information about the problem of free will by neuroscientists, psychologists, physicists and philosophers. Stimulating reading from beginning to end. -- Robert Kane

A timely compilation of essays on the brain processes that organize voluntary action. -- Karl Pribram, Contemporary Psychology, April 2001

An excellent and even-handed review of what is at stake, as well as where science itself has got to in this quest -- John G. Taylor

The collection is wide-ranging in its scope . . . and reports some fascinating empirical work on the brain activity that appears to underlie volitional behaviour -- A.C. Grayling, Times Literary Supplement