But neuroscience can only offer an observation of the molecular activity involved in implementing an act of free will. It will not reveal the ultimate reason behind the chemical activity. It is a bit like trying to decipher the source of a written novel by examining the chemical properties of the ink and paper.
That there is a reason for the choices we make is ultimately why we could not, would not, would not want, to have free will in the full sense of the phrase. Your brain is a biological decision making apparatus that makes wise choices and there would be no point, no benefit, in having that decision making system free of its primary purpose, or free of the constraints of its system of implementation. Decisions that were truly free would be meaningless, random. Choices have to be unfree, in order to be meaningful and useful; they have to satisfy their need.
But there is so much more to our humanity than a biological decision making machine. Neuroscience will no doubt confirm the workings of the biological bit, but there is much more involved.
Just taking the analogy of the printed word a bit further, you do not discover the
meaning of the word by analysing the ink and paper, but if the meaning exists in human consciousness, where does this meaning actually reside in the biological machine? Is it inside a brain cell? If so, how is it represented? Can neuroscience discover the meaning within our physical brain? Can
meaning be defined in physical terms and can we discover where is resides? Can this analogy throw new light on the profound opening of St John's gospel -
In the begining was the word ....
