In recent years，The mystery of free will also piques the interest of scientists。Some scientists have put forward some new insights based on new scientific discoveries，The most influential one is the famous experiment of American neuroscientist Libet: the subjects are not subject to external stimulation or coercion during the experiment，Bending the hand at will, completely voluntarily。Experimental results found，About 350 milliseconds after the instrument recorded increased neural activity in certain parts of their brains，The subjects reported that they had a conscious intention to bend their hands，bet365 bonus code louisiana took another 200 milliseconds for the instrument to register the burst of hand muscle activity。Libet explains，Since the subject has unconscious neural activity of the brain first，Then there is the conscious decision to bend the hand，bet365 bonus code louisiana can be seen that conscious intention cannot initiate voluntary behavior。Although he did not deny the existence of free will，But many incompatibilists think，This landmark experiment proves that human behavior depends on the causal chain of neural activity，Free will is just an illusion。

From a scientific perspective，Libet’s experiment is undoubtedly a success，Later bet365 bonus code louisiana was repeatedly verified。But from a philosophical perspective，His explanation failed，Failed to see that what this experiment proves is exactly the opposite fact: free will initiates voluntary behavior in various internal and external causal chains。The factor leading to failure is the binary opposition structure of freedom and necessity that has always existed in the history of Western philosophy。Because Libet here understands free will as the first beginning without cause，The result is an unconscious imitation of Kant’s example of explaining “absolutely spontaneous rising from a chair”，Cut off the ins and outs of the subject’s behavior，Considering an antecedent sequence that he himself acknowledged as "not happening": "The subject agreed to obey a number of instructions from the experimenter，One of them is，Subjects were expected to engage in specified muscle movements at a certain point after the experiment began。”Once this actual antecedent sequence is included in the scope of investigation，Things are clear: the subject’s voluntary behavior of bending the hand at will comes indirectly from the experimenter’s instructions，bet365 bonus code louisiana even vaguely contains coercion，That is, "You should do as you are told，Otherwise there is no need to participate in the experiment”。In fact，Later Libet also wrote about bet365 bonus code louisiana in a book，Before the experiment begins，"The subject felt she was responsible for the action"。No need to elaborate，This sense of responsibility can only come from the instruction that the subject agrees to obey: I should bend my hand as I please during the experiment，Otherwise, bet365 bonus code louisiana will fail the experimenter’s expectations，Be responsible for the failure of the experiment。

Just pay attention to this precedence sequence，We can reinterpret Libet’s experiment，Explain how free will works: when the subject agrees to obey instructions，The "need-want" of "flexing your hands at will during the experiment" has been formed in your mind，And remain in memory。Then，At some point after the experiment started，This pre-existing psychological need first stimulates the subject’s neural activity through some currently unclear physiological mechanism，Then they realized that they wanted to bend their hands，Finally, the voluntary action of bending the hand is completed through the burst of hand muscle activity。This way，The overall causal chain contained in the experiment is actually: 1.The experimenter issues instructions before the experiment。2.Subject accepted the instruction and developed the need to bend the hand at will。3.The instrument recorded increased neural activity in the subject’s brain during the experiment。4.Subject reported a conscious intention to bend the hand。5.The instrument recorded a burst of muscle activity in the subject's hand。In other words，This is the original motivation that truly initiates the subject’s voluntary behavior，bet365 bonus code louisiana neither their conscious intention to bend their hands during the experiment，bet365 bonus code louisiana not the neural activity that has begun to increase in certain parts of their brains，bet365 bonus code louisiana the "need-want" that they have already formed when they received instructions before the experiment。

For that matter，Libet’s explanation only isolates the last three links of this chain，Only focus on the sequence of the subject’s neural activity and conscious intention，That’s why we rely on the experimental data that “neural activity precedes conscious intention”，The one-sided conclusion that “free will cannot initiate voluntary behavior”，But did not see that his experiment successfully demonstrated a more complex fact: the subject's free will exists in the causal chain of "related needs-memory retention-neural activity-conscious intention"，And only with this integral chain can they initiate the voluntary behavior of bending their hands at will。The thing is very simple: if the subject does not form specific needs in advance and keep them in mind under the stimulation of the experimenter's instructions，Why in their experiments, neural activity began to increase in certain parts of the brain, but not in other parts，Immediately I became aware of the specific thought of bending my hand (rather than any other action)，In the end, this specific action (rather than other behaviors) was completed precisely through the burst of hand muscle activity？In short，If there is no conscious need formed in advance，How could the subject want to engage in the pre-specified action of "flexing the hand at will" in the experiment？From a scientific perspective，Recognize this inevitable effect of cause and effect，Wouldn’t bet365 bonus code louisiana be better to assert that the neural activity of the subject’s brain has no cause、Absolutely spontaneous and suddenly enhanced and more convincing？

Introducing a daily case as a supplement，It may help us understand this new explanation: Zhang San booked a train ticket for the next morning to travel，So before going to bed that night, I formed the need to "get up at six o'clock tomorrow morning" and kept it in my mind，Even set the alarm，But I didn’t wait for the alarm clock to ring at around five o’clock the next morning，I woke up "spontaneously"。If there was also an instrument recording while Zhang San was sleeping，Probably it will also give the increase in neural activity that preceded him，Then realize the data of waking up。However，Can we conclude from this?，It was not a conscious need that he formed before going to bed that night，bet365 bonus code louisiana an inexplicable spontaneous increase in neural activity in the middle of the night，Decided that he woke up from his sleep almost on time？

Actually，Many scientists and philosophers pointed out when commenting on Libet’s experiment，His explanation ignores the important role of advance instructions。However，Not only Libet did not reinterpret his experiment accordingly，These critics only rely on this point to emphasize: since the subjects agree to obey the instructions of the experimenter，Then their actions are not based on free will。This insight once again reflects the distorting effect of the binary opposition between freedom and necessity: as long as bet365 bonus code louisiana affected by any factor，People’s will is no longer absolutely spontaneous，Therefore no longer free。But according to this standard，There really won’t be any free will in the world，Because bet365 bonus code louisiana the same as the subject's "want"，Any "want" people have will always be affected by various internal and external reasons，bet365 bonus code louisiana impossible to emerge from nothingness。To tell the truth，The meaning of “willingness and ambition is up to oneself” does not mean that bet365 bonus code louisiana not affected by any factors，But even if bet365 bonus code louisiana affected by various factors，In the final analysis, people still do this or that out of their own "want" (including "want" in "have to" situations)。

From a scientific perspective，Another misunderstanding that Libet and his critics fell into due to philosophical misunderstanding，They only focus on the sequence of neural activity and conscious intention，But like Kant, he closes his eyes and ignores the actual antecedent sequence of "relevant needs-memory retention-neural activity"，The result was that well-designed scientific experiments failed to provide insight into how the conscious need to remain in memory activates neural activity in the brain in an unconscious manner，Let bet365 bonus code louisiana be put into action through the conscious intention that one subsequently becomes aware of。In this sense，The binary opposition between freedom and necessity not only puts philosophers into a desperate dilemma on the issue of free will，And bet365 bonus code louisiana also caused scientists to miss a good opportunity to explore the relationship between neural activity and conscious awareness。

(Author’s affiliation: Institute for Advanced Study of bet365 bonus code louisiana, Fudan University)