Freedom and Neurobiology: Reflections on Free Will, Language, and Political Power (Columbia Themes in Philosophy) by John Searle (PDF)

Description

Our self-conception derives mostly from our own experience. We believe ourselves to be conscious, rational, social, ethical, language-using, political agents who possess free will. Yet we know we exist in a universe that consists of mindless, meaningless, unfree, nonrational, brute physical particles. How can we resolve the conflict between these two visions?In Freedom and Neurobiology, the philosopher John Searle discusses the possibility of free will within the context of contemporary neurobiology. He begins by explaining the relationship between human reality and the more fundamental reality as described by physics and chemistry. Then he proposes a neurobiological resolution to the problem by demonstrating how various conceptions of free will have different consequences for the neurobiology of consciousness. In the second half of the book, Searle applies his theory of social reality to the problem of political power, explaining the role of language in the formation of our political reality. The institutional structures that organize, empower, and regulate our lives-money, property, marriage, government-consist in the assignment and collective acceptance of certain statuses to objects and people. Whether it is the president of the United States, a twenty-dollar bill, or private property, these entities perform functions as determined by their status in our institutional reality. Searle focuses on the political powers that exist within these systems of status functions and the way in which language constitutes them.Searle argues that consciousness and rationality are crucial to our existence and that they are the result of the biological evolution of our species. He addresses the problem of free will within the context of a neurobiological conception of consciousness and rationality, and he addresses the problem of political power within the context of this analysis. A clear and concise contribution to the free-will debate and the study of cognition, Freedom and Neurobiology is essential reading for students and scholars of the philosophy of mind.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This little book presents two essays given as lectures in Paris in 2001. The title of the first essay is “Free Will as a Problem in Neurobiology” from which the book gets its title. The second essay is titled “Social Ontology and Political Power”. There is also an introduction as long as the essays where Searle explains how these two essays happen to come together in a book. Hint, other than granting permission to publish the essays, Searle had little to do with it!The essays are about completely different subjects. They fit together only in the sense that Searle’s social theory depends on his metaphysical views, mainly the unshakable subjective conviction that we are free willed agents. The lectures were given in the same place at roughly the same time and so here they are together. In his introduction Searle addresses all of this and explains some of the background to both essays. The first summarizes Searle’s thinking on the problem that free will sets to neurobiology and vice versa. Here he is reprising his argument from his book “Mind: A Brief Introduction”. The second essay is a brief summary of thought expressed in “The Construction of Social Reality” with an emphasis on the social nature of political power. I have reviewed both of these books here on Amazon. Of course when a philosopher reprises an older argument he always refines what he or she has said before. We philosophers always find new and better ways of expressing our thoughts and Searle is no exception.So we have here some minor adjustments to the expression of Searle’s thought in his somewhat older books, but nothing that could be called a change in his thinking about these subjects. Each essay is a rather brief sketch of his thinking on the depth of these subjects as befits a lecture format. If you have read his books, there is nothing new here. If you haven’t read his books this would be a quick way to capture his thinking on these two different subject areas.

⭐In summary: Good read. Very short. Covers some interesting ground and best of all, poses interesting questions. Not very much neurobiology.The only other complete work by Searle that I have read is “Mind: A brief introduction.” This book is similar in style though much narrower in scope. His account of free will is the same as it was elsewhere; I am not sure about the short piece on political power. Both were notable mostly for how clearly they framed the questions and the issues to allow for further discussion, rather than providing definitive answers. The introduction was my favorite chapter as it outlined what Searle takes to be the most important questions in philosophy today and situates those questions in a very engaging (albeit brief) way. Overall it was an enjoyable book, though not nearly as comprehensive as his other works.I might recommend this book to someone who is interested in the philosophy of free will or social institutions and wants an introduction to Searle’s work that is longer (and less technical) than most journal articles, but shorter than most books.

⭐Searle is captivating, and interesting. You can’t get enough! He makes philosophy understandable, he ideals are refreshing and his delivery is unique.

⭐You’d expect a book with this title to actually have some neurobiology in it, but you’d be disappointed. This slim volume consists of two diffuse philosophical essays, one about free will, and the other about political power. Both are simplistic, in my view, and don’t bring any new ideas to the table. The essay on free will was the most interesting, but despite the book’s title, the author doesn’t bring in any neurobiology. Instead he basically says that neurobiology should be involved, and possibly quantum mechanical randomness, because that’s the only nondeterministic mechanism he can think of that might be related to the nondeterminism of free will. That particular idea is explored much more deeply in Roger Penrose’s book “The Emperor’s New Mind,” which despite its flaws, is a much deeper and more solid book.

⭐Excellent!

⭐social ontology part of the book had some good insights. But I don’t think it has as much utility to political science as the author thinks. I don’t see framing politics within the categories of collective intentionality and deontic power to be that much better than discussing political legitimacy of institutions. Much of Searle’s proposed schema seems correct, but obvious to the point of triviality. But nonetheless, he introduces some good terms to express intuitively obvious categories.

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