Philosophers have raised questions throughout history regarding the relationship between our intuitive sense of mental causation and agency and the physical world. This issue was addressed by the symposium “Top-Down Causation and Volition,” held at Yosemite National Park, California from April 19-21, 2007. The organizers contended that this long-standing question had acquired new urgency since the discovery of brain signals that seem to precede an intended action.The symposium was chaired by Christof Koch, the Lois and Victor Troendle Professor of Cognitive and Behavioral Biology at the California Institute of Technology. Issues covered included the questions whether the “feeling of authorship” is a conscious sensation that is, in principle, no different from the feeling of seeing the color red or smelling a rose, how physicalist frameworks for top-down causation might be conceptualized, and what is the status of contemporary debate in philosophical theology pertaining to questions of volition and causation.Christof Koch Güven Güzeldere |
Mark Hallett Chief of the Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Bethesda, Maryland J. A. Scott Kelso Glenwood and Martha Creech Eminent Scholar Professor of Science, Florida Atlantic University Hans Küng President, Global Ethic Foundation Nancey C. Murphy Professor of Christian Philosophy, Fuller Theological Seminary William Thomas Newsome, III Professor of Neurobiology, School of Medicine, Stanford University |
Timothy O’Connor Professor of Philosophy, Indiana University Sean A. Spence Professor of General Adult Psychiatry, University of Sheffield Evan Thompson Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto Daniel M. Wegner Professor of Psychology, Harvard University |
