The illusion of conscious will

433 Pages·2018·8.194 MB·English

by  Wegner, Daniel M

The Illusion of Conscious Will

The Illusion of Conscious Will
New Edition
Daniel M. Wegner
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2018 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information
storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in Stone Sans and Stone Serif by Toppan Best-set Premedia Limited.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wegner, Daniel M., 1948- author.
Title: The illusion of conscious will / Daniel M. Wegner ; foreword by Daniel
Gilbert ; introduction by Thalia Wheatley.
Description: New edition | Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, [2017] | Revised
edition of the author’s | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017021970 | ISBN 9780262534925 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Will. | Free will and determinism.
Classification: LCC BF611 .W38 2017 | DDC 153.8--dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2017021970
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
A leaf was riven from a tree,
“I mean to fall to earth,” said he.
The west wind, rising, made him veer.
“Eastward,” said he, “I now shall steer.”
The east wind rose with greater force.
Said he: “’Twere wise to change my course.”
With equal power they contend.
He said: “My judgment I suspend.”
Down died the winds; the leaf, elate,
Cried: “I’ve decided to fall straight.”
Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary (1911)

Contents
Foreword ix
Daniel Gilbert
Preface to the New Edition xiii
Thalia Wheatley
Preface xvii
Daniel Wegner
1 The Illusion 1
It usually seems that we consciously will our voluntary actions, but this is an
illusion.
2 Brain and Body 27
Conscious will arises from processes that are psychologically and
anatomically distinct from the processes whereby mind creates action.
3 The Experience of Will 59
The experience of conscious will arises when we infer that our conscious
intention has caused our voluntary action, although both intention and
action are themselves caused by mental processes that do not feel willed.
4 An Analysis of Automatism 93
The experience of will can be reduced to very low levels under certain
conditions, even for actions that are voluntary, purposive, and complex—
and what remains is automatism.
5 Protecting the Illusion 137
The illusion of will is so compelling that it can prompt the belief that acts
were intended when they could not have been. It is as though people aspire
to be ideal agents who know all their actions in advance.
viii Contents
6 Action Projection 177
The authorship of one’s own action can be lost, projected away from self to
other people or groups or even animals.
7 Virtual Agency 211
When people project action to imaginary agents, they create virtual agents,
apparent sources of their own action. This process underlies spirit possession
and dissociative identity disorder as well as the formation of the agent self.
8 Hypnosis and Will 257
In hypnosis the person experiences a loss of conscious will. This loss
accompanies an apparent transfer of control to someone else, along with
the creation of some exceptional forms of control over the self.
9 The Mind’s Compass 301
Although the experience of conscious will is not evidence of mental
causation, it does signal personal authorship of action to the individual and
so influences both the sense of achievement and the acceptance of moral
responsibility.
Notes 327
References 341
Author Index 391
Subject Index 405