Q&A: The Libet Experiment
The Libet Experiment
Question
In the Libet experiment, the subjects said they acted freely, but the RP came before their decision. I thought to explain their reported feeling of freedom in two ways. One is that they didn’t know what free choice is supposed to mean—that it requires deliberation and not just arbitrarily raising a hand—but because it came from some impulse arising within them, they thought that was freedom. The second explanation is that they really were free, but some chose to go along with the RP and some did not, and they did that genuinely freely. What do you think?
Answer
The first seems correct to me. This is, of course, a matter of definition.
The second is Libet’s veto claim.
Discussion on Answer
The two answers do not contradict each other, and it seems to me that they work together. Though there is no need to say that they do not know what free choice is; it is possible that they know very well, and really did feel that they were acting freely. They felt an urge to raise their hand—they did not exercise a veto, and they felt that they had the freedom to exercise a veto had they wanted to.
You can look at the column "Only the Servant of God Is Truly Free" at length.