Volition and the Function of Consciousness

Abstract

© 2011 by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Lynn Nadel. All rights reserved. Many acts of volition seem to require conscious effort. We consciously initiate spontaneous motor movements. We cancel planned actions at will. We deliberately avoid particular actions. We intentionally shift our action plans in order to pursue different goals. Sometimes, theorists say, these are the functions of consciousness, as if evolution has equipped us with the gift of consciousness just to perform these acts. Without consciousness, presumably, we would only be able to perform much simpler actions that are no more sophisticated than embellished reflexes. This chapter reviews available evidence to see if these intuitive claims are empirically supported. It discusses what is logically required for an experiment to demonstrate the true function of consciousness.