Does Neuroscience Leave Room for Free Will?
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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Perspectives on Neuroscience
Published on: July 31, 2007
1Smurfit Institute of Genetics and Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Abstract:
A reductively mechanistic approach to neuroscience suggests that low-level physical laws determine our actions and that mental states are epiphenomena. In this scheme there seems to be little room for free will or genuine agency. I argue here that physical indeterminacy provides room for the information entailed in patterns of neuronal firing - the mental content of beliefs, goals, and intentions - to have real causal power in decision-making.
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