Libertad y ética: el trabajo de Benjamin Libet

Freedom and ethics: Benjamin Libet's work

Liberdade e ética: o trabalho de Benjamin Libet

Resúmenes

Una idea fundamental para sostener conceptos éticos fundamentales, tales como el de autonomía, responsabilidad etc., lo es la "libertad". La aporía determinismo/libertad ha estado presente en la filosofía desde el mundo antiguo. Sin embargo, tras el desarrollo de las neurociencias, se ha planteado que la libertad es una mera ilusión y que los seres humanos estamos determinados neurobiológicamente en nuestro actuar. Este trabajo presenta los trabajos pioneros de Benjamín Libet sobre este tema (una aproximación que utilizó electroencefalografía y electromiografía), a la vez que realiza una crítica sobre las interpretaciones del propio Libet.

Bioética; Neurociencias; Filosofía

A fundamental idea to sustain basic ethical concepts such as autonomy, responsibility, etc., is "liberty". The determinism/freedom aporia has been present in philosophical tradition since ancient world. However, after the development of neuroscience, it has been argued that freedom is merely an illusion and human beings are neurobiologically determined in our actions. This paper presents the pioneering work of Benjamin Libet on this subject (an approach that used electroencephalography and electromyography), also a critique on Libet interpretations of his results.

Bioethics; Neurosciences; Philosophy

Uma ideia fundamental para sustentar conceitos éticos fundamentais, tais como autonomia, responsabilidade, etc., é a "liberdade". A aporia determinismo/liberdade tem sido presente na filosofia desde o mundo antigo. No entanto, após o desenvolvimento da neurociência, tem-se argumentado que a liberdade é uma mera ilusão e que nós seres humanos estamos neurobiologicamente determinados em nossas ações. Este artigo apresenta os estudos pioneiros de Benjamin Libet sobre este assunto (una abordagem que utilizou eletroencefalografia e eletroneuromiografia), enquanto realiza uma crítica sobre as interpretações do próprio Libet.

Bioética; Neurociências; Filosofia

• ¹
  Churchland PS. Neurophilosophy: toward a unified science of the mind-brain. Cambridge: MIT Press; 1986.
• ²
  Stent GS. The mind-body problem: neurophilosophy. Science. 1987;236(4.804):990-2.
• ³
  Stent GS. The poverty of neurophilosophy. J Med Philos. 1990;15(5):5 39-57.
• ⁴
  Northoff G. Philosophy of the brain: the brain problem. Philadelphia: John Benjamins; 2004.
• ⁵
  Northoff G. What is neurophilosophy? A methodological account. J Gen Philos Sci. 2004;35(1):91-127.
• ⁶
  Northoff G. Neuropsychoanalysis in practice: brain, self and objects. New York: Oxford University Press; 2011.
• ⁷
  Estany A. La filosofía en el marco de las neurociencias. Rev Neurol. 2013;56(6):344-8.
• ⁸
  Álvarez-Díaz JA. Neuroética como neurociencia de la ética. Rev Neurol. 2013;57(8):374-82.
• ⁹
  Camps V. Neuronas y valores. Rev Neurol. 2013;57(5):230-4.
• ¹⁰
  Squire LR, editor. The history of neuroscience in autobiography. New York: Oxford University Press; 1996. v. 1. Benjamin Libet, p. 414-53.
• ¹¹
  Gerard RW, Libet B. General neurophysiology. Prog Neurol Psychiatry. 1946;1:26-58.
• ¹³
  Eccles JC, Libet B, Young RR. The behiaviour of chromatolysed motoneurones studied by intracellular recording. J Physiol. 1958;143(1):11-40.
• ¹⁴
  Libet B, Gerard RW. An analysis of some correlates of steady potentials in mammalian cerebral cortex. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1962;14:445-52.
• ¹⁵
  Libet B, Alberts WW, Wright EW Jr, Delattre LD, Levin G, Feinstein B. Production of threshold levels of conscious sensation by electrical stimulation of human somatosensory cortex. J Neurophysiol. 1964;27:546-78.
• ¹⁶
  Libet B. Cortical activation in conscious and unconscious experience. Perspect Biol Med. 1965;9(1):77-86.
• ¹⁷
  Kornhuber HH, Deecke L. Hirnpotentialänderungen bei willkürbewegungen und passiven bewegungen des menschen: bereitschaftpotential und reafferente potentiale. Pflugers Archiv. 1965;284(1):1-17.
• ¹⁸
  Libet B, Wright EW Jr, Gleason CA. Readiness-potentials preceding unrestricted 'spontaneous' vs. pre-planned voluntary acts. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1982;54(3):322-35.
• ¹⁹
  Libet B, Gleason CA, Wright EW, Pearl DK. Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity (readiness-potential): the unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain. 1983;106(Pt 3):623-42.
• ²⁰
  Libet B, Wright EW Jr, Gleason CA. Preparation-or intention-to-act, in relation to pre-event potentials recorded at the vertex. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1983;56(4):367-72.
• ²¹
  Libet B. Unconscious cerebral initiative and the role of conscious will in voluntary action. Behav Brain Sci. 1985;8:529-66.
• ²²
  Libet B. Do we have free will? J Conscious Stud. 1999;6(8-9):47-57.
• ²³
  Blackmore S. Conversaciones sobre la conciencia. Ciudad de México: Paidós; 2010. p. 368.
• ²⁴
  Damasio A. Self comes to mind: constructing the conscious brain. New York: Pantheon Books; 2010.
• ²⁵
  Kandel ER. Psiquiatría, psicoanálisis y la nueva biología de la mente. Barcelona: Ars Medica; 2007. p. 67-111.
• ²⁶
  Bennett MR, Hacker PMS. Philosophical foundations of neuroscience. Oxford: Blackwell; 2003.
• ²⁷
  Libet B. The timing of mental events: Libet's experimental findings and their implications. Conscious Cogn. 2002;11(2):291-9.
• ²⁸
  Danquah AN, Farrell MJ, O'Boyle DJ. Biases in the subjective timing of perceptual events: Libet et al. (1983) revisited. Conscious Cogn. 2008;17(3):616-27.
• ²⁹
  Herrmann CS, Pauen M, Min BK, Busch NA, Rieger JW. Analysis of a choice-reaction task yields a new interpretation of Libet's experiments. Int J Psychophysiol. 2008;67(2):151-7.
• ³⁰
  Garcia Dominguez L, Kostelecki W, Wennberg R, Perez Velazquez JL. Distinct dynamical patterns that distinguish willed and forced actions. Cogn Neurodyn. 2011;5(1):67-76.
• ³¹
  Guggisberg AG, Mottaz A. Timing and awareness of movement decisions: does consciousness really come too late? Front Hum Neurosci. 2013;7:385.
• ³²
  Jo HG, Hinterberger T, Wittmann M, Borghardt TL, Schmidt S. Spontaneous EEG fluctuations determine the readiness potential: is preconscious brain activation a preparation process to move? Exp Brain Res. 2013;231(4):495-500.
• ³³
  Klemm WR. Free will debates: simple experiments are not so simple. Adv Cogn Psychol. 2010;6:47-65.
• ³⁴
  Dennett DC. Freedom evolves. New York: Penguin Books; 2003. p. 221-57.
• ³⁵
  Dennett DC. Intuition pumps and other tools for thinking. New York: W. W. Norton & Company; 2013. p. 355-96.
• ³⁶
  Nicol E. La idea del hombre. Ciudad de México: Fondo de Cultura Económica; 1992. p. 30.
• ³⁷
  Guerrero del Amo JA. Las dificultades del compatibilismo de Dennett. Thémata. Revista de Filosofía. 2007;39:97-103.
• ³⁸
  Vidal F. Brainhood, anthropological figure of modernity. Hist Human Sci. 2009;22(1):5-36.
• ³⁹
  Vidal F. Le sujet cérébral: une esquisse historique et conceptuelle. PSN. 2005;3(11):37-48.
• ⁴⁰
  Mauron A. Essays on science and society: is the genome the secular equivalent of the soul? Science. 2001;291(5.505):831-2.
• ⁴¹
  Sporns O, Tononi G, Kötter R. The human connectome: a structural description of the human brain. PLoS Comput Biol. 2005;1(4):e42.
• ⁴²
  Cortina A. Neuroética y neuropolítica: sugerencias para la educación moral. 3. ed. Madrid: Tecnos; 2012. p. 172.

Fechas de Publicación

• Publicación en esta colección
  05 Ene 2015
• Fecha del número
  Dic 2014

Histórico

• Recibido
  28 Jul 2014
• Acepto
  13 Oct 2014
• Revisado
  05 Set 2014