Conference will address ‘big questions’ of free will

Leading neuroscientists, social psychologists and philosophers from universities across the nation as well as from England and Israel are set to attend the “Big Questions in Free Will Conference: Free Will and Science,” from 3:45 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 13, to 12:20 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 15, on the Florida State University campus. The conference is hosted by Florida State’s Department of Philosophy and co-sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation and the William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Endowment.

“The presenters are winners of major research grants from the Department of Philosophy’s Big Questions in Free Will project — a $4.4 million project funded by the John Templeton Foundation,” said Alfred Mele, Florida State’s William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy and director of the Big Questions in Free Will project. “All of the presenters’ projects began in the summer or fall of 2011. During the conference, we’ll be hearing about the initial results of their ongoing, cutting-edge scientific and philosophical research on free will.”

The conference will take place:

JAN. 13 – 15, 2012

DODD HALL AUDITORIUM

FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

The presenters represent the University of Arizona, Brown University, the California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Georgia State University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Oxford, University College London, Whittier College and Yale University.

The conference is free and open to the public.