Consciousness, Free Will, and the Sense of Agency

This conference addresses the connections between consciousness, free will, and the sense of agency. The conference brings together researchers from various disciplines, including, psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, sociology, and medical history, to present and discuss a range of perspectives: (i) empirical and conceptual questions concerning the neural correlates of consciousness and intentional action; (ii) the theory of mind debate and the varieties of consciousness; and (iii) the implications of empirical data on folk intuitions about agency and moral responsibility. Contributions from cognitive neuroscience focus on the dynamic regulation of perception and cognition by memory and attention, and on the neural mechanisms that underpin anticipation and choice. Contributions from philosophy address the conceptual problem of other minds, embodied cognition and the extended mind thesis, and the phenomenology of moral experience. And contributions from medical historians and sociologists examine the impact that disorders of consciousness and a diminished sense of agency can have on the health and well-being of vulnerable groups in low- and middle-income countries.