Online Course – Certified Professional Internship in Libertarian Free Will – Dartmouth

Do humans have free will? We examined the neuroscientific and philosophical evidence.

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קורס אונליין - התמחות מקצועית מוסמכת ברצון חופשי ליברטריאני - דארטמות

Professional Certificate

Beginners

No prior knowledge required

Time to complete the course

7-day free trial

No unnecessary risks

Skills you will acquire in the course

  • philosophy
  • Critical thinking
  • Neuroscience

What you will learn in the course

Courses for which the course is suitable

  • philosopher
  • Scientific researcher
  • Neurologist
  • Quantum researcher
  • Psychology expert
  • Philosophy teacher
  • Evolutionary researcher
  • Ethics expert
  • Brain researcher
  • Facilitator of workshops on free will

Internship – a three-part course series

Yes, we have free will!

This internship will explore the libertarian idea of ​​free will and discuss philosophical arguments and scientific evidence for and against its existence.

Main topics

  • We will unpack arguments against free will from a philosophical and scientific perspective.
  • We explore fields such as philosophy, physics, and neuroscience.
  • We will re-execute the neural code and discover that evolution has found a middle ground between determinism and randomness.

Reinforcing the lack of determinism

  • We will learn about the reinforcement of the lack of determinism in the quantum realm.
  • We will examine uncertainty in the timing of nerve impulses.
  • We will explore the results from the internal operations in working memory.

Evolution and free will

I would like to argue that evolution has created the conditions necessary for libertarian free will in our minds.

  • Evolution has given us two types of libertarian free will:
    • One that we share with other animals – the ability to weigh and choose from internally imagined options.
    • The second, unique to humans – the ability to imagine and then begin to be a new kind of voter in the future.

Practical learning project

This specialization consists of three separate courses:

  • The Foundations of Libertarian Free Will
  • Free will and neuroscience
  • Neurological basis for imagination, free will, and morality

Each course has a variety of quizzes, videos, and assignments.

Details of the courses that make up the specialization

The foundations of libertarian free will

  • Course 1 • 6 hours

Course Details

What you’ll learn

  • In this course, we will read the arguments against free will from a philosophical perspective.
  • The first module in the course will help you understand the differences between freedom from burdens and freedom within burdens.
  • The module will also help you define truth and reality as they exist in relation to our perceptions.
  • In the second module, we will explore concepts such as causality and critical causes.
  • You can define consciousness as it relates to our mental and physical worlds.
  • The third and final module in this course will explore the central idea behind free will.
  • We will analyze why arguments for or against free will are classified according to their ability to be compatible with determinism.
  • You can also compare the two types of libertarian free will.

Free will and neuroanatomy

  • Course 2 • 9 hours

Course Details

What you’ll learn

  • In this course, we will discuss free will from a neuroanatomical perspective.
  • The first module in the course will explore two neuroanatomical arguments against Libet Weinger’s free will.
  • Will examine the arguments of neuroscientists against free will.
  • Also examine where these experiments fail to disprove free will.
  • In the second module, the anatomy and physiology of nerve cells will be described.
  • You will also learn how they communicate.
  • Understand the anatomy and neural physiology in the context of consciousness, attention, and free will.
  • In the third and final module of the course, you will explore an example of top-down influence on bottom-up processing called voluntary attention.
  • See how neural circuits responsible for voluntary and involuntary thoughts and actions communicate with each other.
  • Next, you will learn how a neural circuit can change its physical structure and function.
  • How these changes may affect human behavior.

The neural basis of imagination, free will, and morality

  • Course 3 • 5 hours

Course Details

What you’ll learn

  • This course deals with the neural basis of imagination, free will, and morality.
  • In the first module of the course, you will explore the evidence of imagination that emerges from works of art.
  • This module examines the changes in the brain that have led to the innovation of human imagination.
  • The relationship between first- and second-order desires and freedom of will will also be discussed.
  • In the second module, you will learn how we imagine and judge what is right and what is wrong.
  • You will also learn to distinguish between immoral and immoral actions and explore the origin of morality, evil, and human goodness.
  • By comparing science and religion, you will understand how to reunify social, cultural, and governmental structures to serve the broad interests of humans.

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