Consciousness, Free Will, and Purpose in Human Life

Consciousness, Free Will, and Purpose in Human Life
In the book Minds, Brains, and Science, author John Searle discusses the ability of humans to provide their own consciousness and free will. He poses the question, "Why exactly is there no room for the freedom of the will on the contemporary scientific view?" (93). In short, his argument is that contemporary science (such as physics) looks at problems from the bottom up. The smallest parts and processes come together to form the larger parts and processes, and it is because of the nature of the smaller parts that we have the larger proce…