The age-old question of free will versus determinism has returned with new urgency as neuroscience unveils the brain's predictive processing architecture. If consciousness is an epiphenomenon of physical causality, can moral agency survive the determinist explanation of human behavior?

"Every time I raise my arm, I feel a conscious will to move it. But what is the nature of that will - is it a ghost in the machine or an emergent property of neuronal computation?"

Determinism Reconsidered

Classical determinism posits a universe governed by causal laws. Laplace's demon could predict any future state given perfect information. But quantum indeterminacy and chaotic systems challenge this view, suggesting that strict determinism might be replaced by probabilistic laws without undermining agency.

Neuroscience Challenges

Libet's experiments suggested decisions occur before conscious awareness, yet this doesn't necessarily negate moral responsibility. The sense of agency might be an illusion - but practical life requires us to act as if free will exists for social systems to function.