Consciousness and freedom

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2019.2.30757

Keywords:

Situational freedom. Bounded rationality. Agencies of control. Existential consciousness. Self-control.

Abstract

This paper puts forward a model of the free agent that is compatible with evolutionary and neurophysiological theories of the human mind, specifically based on the notions of situational freedom, due to Sartre, and bounded rationality, due to Simon. In addition, Skinner’s notion of agencies of control is generalized and applied also to brain structures. The free agent is depicted as the human individual whose conscious self chooses and decides in the context of multiple determinations both environmental and neurophysiological. The agent’s autonomy results from the processes leading to the acquisition of the modalities of existential consciousness, including conscience. The free agent is someone who gets self-control.

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Author Biography

Luiz Henrique de Araújo Dutra, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC

Doutor em Lógica e Filosofia da Ciência pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Professor titular aposentado do Departamento de Filosofia, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). Participante dos programas de pós-graduação em Filosofia, doutorado da UFSC e da UnB, e pesquisador do CNPq, nível 1B, agência de fomento cujo apoio financeiro possibilitou a
elaboração deste artigo.

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Published

2019-10-15

How to Cite

Dutra, L. H. de A. (2019). Consciousness and freedom. Veritas (Porto Alegre), 64(2), e30757. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2019.2.30757

Issue

Section

Philosophy & Interdisciplinarity