- #71
Steve Esser
- 52
- 1
I think we can divide self-consciousness into pre-reflective self-consciousness and reflective or introspective self consciousness. The pre-reflective kind is our mode (probably) a majority of the time, as we are immersed in our activity in the world. Asking the subject to monitor awareness brings things into reflective mode, which it is reasonable to assume introduces some (additional?) delay. Commentators who divide modes simply into conscious and unconscious miss this important nuance.antfm said:I try again to get some help from someone reading this thread to understand a bit better Libet's experiment. My doubt is the delay it is actually measuring, as I said in earler post.
I guess it is a delay between the neuronal firing that indicates the beggining of a, supposedly intentional, action and the thought of having the intention to start that action.
Ok, it seems we start the action half a second before the thought of having the intention to.
But, in my view, perhaps a basic or raw feeling of having the intention is prior to the thought of having that intention. I mean, I can start an action when "I feel like doing something", as language says, which could be before "I think I feel like doing something".
An example: the athlete could start running when he hears the shot, not when he thinks "I've heard the shot" (it would be too late); the athlete starts running half a second before the thought, but not half a second before hearing the shot (otherwise he would be disqualified).
Something like that. I'd appreciate some help. Thanks.
Now it still is a meaningful result that the self which is felt to exist in our reflective mode can't be responsible for initiating action. To the extent this really is the folk concept of free will, then it seems to be refuted by the evidence.