Consciousness and freedom
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2019.2.30757Keywords:
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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