MIND OVER MATTER
This concept claims humans have genuine choice not fully determined by prior causes.
What is free will?
The view that every event is caused by prior events according to laws of nature; the idea that our choices may not be as free as they feel.
What is determinism?
When someone commits a crime but it is determined to be a result of a mental illness, found "not guilty by reason of..."
What is insanity?
This author and neuroscientist said, "Free will is an illusion...We do not have the freedom we think we have."
Who is Sam Harris?
This psychologist introduced synchronicity into depth psychology.
Who is Carl Jung?
The subjective experience of acting within our awareness. The "feeling" of choosing freely.
What is agency?
The view that even if determinism is true, we can still have free will—so long as our actions flow from our own reasons and values rather than coercion.
What is compatibilism?
Courts commonly allow neuroscience/genetics not to excuse guilt outright but to reduce punishment at this stage.
What is sentencing?
This neuroscientist’s experiments suggested the brain “decides” before conscious awareness asking "do we act freely?"
Who is Benjamin Libet?
A meaningful coincidence that cannot be explained by direct causation.
What is synchronicity?
These two theories of agency relate to 1) deliberation of choices that lead to moral responsibility and 2) how we feel when making decisions.
What are philosophical and experiential (agency)?
Libet determined what amount of time is necessary for a sensation to obtain neuronal adequacy to register it into conscious awareness?
What is 500 milliseconds (0.5 seconds)?
The idea that a person can rightly be praised or blamed for an action because it was under their voluntary control and reflected their reasons or intentions.
What is moral responsibility?
This psychologist wondered, "did I actually decide to get out of bed on a cold morning" or "did I get up unconsciously?
Who is William James?
Jung's patient had a dream about ____. During their session, one synchronistically flew into his office window.
What is a scarab beetle?
These three terms for agency in action describe 1) experiential awareness without deliberate thought; 2) the conscious setting of purpose toward an outcome; 3) envisioning possibilities.
What are intuition, intention, and imagination?
Without some concept of choice, what system, used extensively in the United States, would likely use its meaning and impact?
What is punishment?
In 1994, she was acquitted by a jury on a temporary insanity theory (“irresistible impulse” language often appears in coverage), becoming a cultural shorthand for compulsion vs. control. Her husband was forever changed.
Who was Lorena Bobbitt?
This philosopher argued that humans are “condemned to be free,” even when denying it, stating, "existence precedes essence."
Who is Jean-Paul Sartre?
Jung often explored synchronicity through these recurring symbolic patterns.
What are archetypes?
This school of thought heavily emphasizes radical freedom, saying we are entirely free to define our own meaning and choices in an absurd world, often associated with philosophers like Sartre and Kierkegaard.
What is existentialism?
The view that all events are pre-ordained or predestined by a divine being. This is central to various religious doctrines, such as Calvinism in Christianity.
What is theological determinism?
These cases often rely on a broad claim: adolescents have less impulse control and foresight, so blameworthiness is reduced.
What is “diminished culpability of juveniles”?
This determinist said "Nothing in the universe happens by chance. All is determined by the necessity of the divine nature."
Who is Baruch Spinoza?
Jung described synchronicity as meaningful connection through this shared underlying reality.
What is the collective unconscious/unus mundus/acausal connecting principle?