L'esprit au-delà des neurones

EXPLORATION DE LA CONSCIENCE ET DE LA LIBERTE

What is consciousness? What is free will? Where is the seat of consciousness? A pioneering scientist in the field of consciousness, Benjamin Libet has carried out experiments which reveal the surprising abilities of the brain

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Sprit - Conscience

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L'esprit au-delà des neurones

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What is consciousness? A creation of brain neurones? Benjamin Libet, a leading experimentalist in the field of neuroscience, transformed our understanding of the consciousness with his discovery, during scientific experiments, that our brain decides to act even before we are aware of it. Are we free therefore, to make choices if a decision precedes the awareness we have of it? Admittedly, we are not the ones who trigger the action, but from the moment that we become conscious of it, we can decide, freely and consciously, to modify it or complete it or not. Therein lies our free will: in what Benjamin Libet refers to as our veto. The author then explores the means by which our conscious subjective perception can be born of our brain activity. According to him, consciousness does not have its seat in a specific nerve centre: it is “above the neurones”. Neurone activity is thought to produce conscious mental states which have the particularity of acting on these neurones in turn: which would explain how non-physical consciousness can emerge from the physical activity of the brain. The work of Benjamin Libet therefore fuels scientific elements essential to the philosophical debate on our notions of freedom, free will and responsibility, notions which make up part of the very foundation of our humanity.