Dr. Nahmias to Speak at Agnes Scott College
Dr. Eddy Nahmias, Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and the Neuroscience Institute, will speak at Agnes Scott College on Wednesday, March 30 on “Is Free Will an Illusion? Confronting the Threats from the Modern Mind Sciences.”
Increasingly, neuroscientists and psychologists are claiming that their research shows that free will is an illusion, and the media publicize their claims with headlines like, “Case Closed for Free Will?” Meanwhile, recent research has shown that when you tell people that free will is an illusion, it makes them behave worse. So, these claims about free will matter. In this talk, Eddy Nahmias will examine whether the scientists’ claims about free will are justified and how to make sense of free will in the age of the modern mind sciences.
Professor Nahmias studies human agency: what it is, how it is possible, and how it accords with scientific accounts of human nature. His current concern is the free will debate. In his book-in-progress, Rediscovering Free Will, he argues that the free will debate should not be focused on the traditional question of whether free will is compatible with determinism. Rather, this debate should be focused on distinct threats posed by the sciences of the mind (e.g., neuroscience and psychology). He examines these threats and argues that these sciences can help to explain free will rather than explaining it away.
Date and time of lecture: Wednesday, March 30, 7:30 pm
Location: Agnes Scott College, Letitia Pate Evans Hall, Terrace Level, Rooms ABC
For directions to Agnes Scott College: Call 404-471-5411 or go to www.agnesscott.edu.