Excellent step forward an a core issue of cognitive science, but punches get pulled a bit at the end

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	• The Illusion of Conscious Will (Bradford Books) Daniel M. Wegner The MIT Press, 2003 - 419 pages average customer review:based on 26 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Excellent step forward an a core issue of cognitive science, but punches get pulled a bit at the end

Along with that, it's an excellent refutation of the illogic and weak knees of someone like Dan Dennett, as well as seeming to scare the hell out of a lot of amateur readers who perhaps should never be allowed near material like this in the first place.

The title speaks for itself. Wegner then looks at the latest findings in modern neuroscience, along with the latest speculation in cognitive philosophy, and offers up his ideas as to how and why this illusion arose.

And here is where I say he is an excellent refutation to Dennett.

It's been roughly two decades since Dennett came out with his claim that we have no Cartesian Central Meaner at the core of our minds, ie. no homunculus or metaphorical little man serving as the central director of our consciousness.

But, but, but, Dennett refuses to come to the logical conclusion that, if we don't have a Central Meaner, we can't have a Central Willer, either. It's not just a lack of goal to go down this road; in his latest books to touch on free will, it's a willful (nice pun, eh?) rejection of this logical conclusion.

Well, Wegner is not afraid to take the plunge, and does so in convincing fashion, although he does pull back somewhat at the end.

That said, and although I gave this a five-star rating, there's plenty to still study on this issue that Wegner (and Dennett, et al) have not tackled.

1. Is there an Unconscious Willer? After all, as Dennett won't tell you, much of the working of our mind is unconscious or subconscious (and I mean no Deepak Chopra New Ageism by that statement). Isn't it possible, at least, that there is a Central Meaner, or several quasi-Central Meaners, in one or more subconscious brain routines? Of course, these quasi-Meaners would generate quasi-Willers.

2. Again, without getting into New Ageism, dimestore Zen, bogus metaphysics, etc., there's room for Wegner to go further down the path of just what "I" is and is not, without not only a Central Meaner but a Central Willer.

3. Handwringing and gnashing of teeth aside from fundamentalist Christians or people in that general direction (the ones who shouldn't be reading books like this in the first place) where do theories of morals (or aesthetics, for that matter) get grounded with no Central Willer as well as no Central Meaner? Here is where Wegner most pulls his punches in this book when he had the chance to meaningfully explore this from a non-willer perspective.

Folks, we've got enough material here for another book. Hopefully, Wegner, or someone else, is in the process of writing it.

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Armchair Psychology Meets Corporate Academic Propaganda

Throughout the book I kept getting the distinct impression that Wegner is an armchair warrior. He writes with obvious eloquence, erudition and wit, but it is more like his position is one of marketing rather than experiential substance in the sense that his thoughts are packaged very nicely but lack substance and nutritional quality (so to speak).

Moreover, like so many of the academic faith and other such pseudo priests of scientism, Wegner also impressed (read: disimpressed) me as the type of researcher who, if he found himself in the sanctum santorum of ancient Eleusis with The Mystery in full swing - and was offered a cup filled with the sacred psychoactive brew - that Wegner would not ingest it. He seems rather pellucidly to lack the inner fortitude required for such experiences. Droll but typical.

With that appreciated, his ideas ring hollow - perhaps even wishful, like pharmaceutical propaganda, endeaovoring to pave clear the way for greater corporate/government social control. But then perhaps I am reading too much into the consequences of his train of thought. I may be giving him too much credit. However, it is exactly such seemingly innocuous Ivory Tower evangelism as this that so insidiously infects the minds of people in positions of influence and power to further inflict the world with such dehumanizing ideas as Wegner posits.

Certainly read his book, but handle it with gloves for the meme complex he works so dilligently to impart to his readers is not your friend. It's like his thoughts are adware, or the psychological equivalent of trojans, seeking to rewrite several potent but subtle elements of one's knowledge/beliefs in favor of his own saliently indoctrinated opinions - actually in the favor of his paymasters, to be blunt.

All-in-all Wegner's book is a worthwhile read (although his NLP skills are lacklustre at best). But regardless, if you enjoy the cultish dogma of academia, written from a neatly removed and well sanitized staus quo point of view, then this book is assuredly for you. However, if you find his ideas lacking, and his agenda both plebean and sinsiter in a corporate promotional sort of way, then you will be well advised to look elsewhere for Wegner, in the end, delivers little more than seductively articulated glitz and glam.

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Fantastic - excellent writing, interesting ideas.

This book seeks to make the case that the experience of conscious will, although seeming to cause our actions, does not. The argument presented in doing this is broad-ranging, covering topics in philosophy, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, child development, and social psychology.

Like his Harvard Colleague Daniel Gilbert, Daniel Wegner has the dual gifts of being a gifted researcher and gifted writer. There is insufficient space in a brief review to outline all the arguments raised by this book, or all the topics covered. The good ideas come thick and fast, but are presented with sufficient clarity that they should be understandable to most intelligent readers, even those without an extensive background in psychology or philosophy.

On top of his writing and research, Wegner's ability to theorize from the evidence and consider evidence in light of theory is outstanding. A great deal of the research Wegner reports in this book is his own. In addition, he does a masterful job of scouring current and historical literature for interesting examples to support his case.

There are some good concise summaries of the arguments made in this book in academic psychology articles by Wegner. Some of which can be downloaded from his homepage: these may provide a good start if you are presently unsure about buying the book. I think people who enjoy Daniel Dennett's philosophical writings on consciousness would enjoy this book.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Selected as a Finalist in the category of Psychology/Mental Health in the 2002 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs) presented by Independent Publisher Magazine., Silver Award Winner for Philosophy in the 2002 ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards. and Selected as an Outstanding Academic Book for 2002 by Choice Magazine

Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality.

Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will?-those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.

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