October 3, 2017

SVSU to host lecture on free will

Saginaw Valley State University will welcome a guest speaker and professor who will speak on the topic of "Free Will and Neuroscience." The presentation will take place Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. in SVSU's Ott Auditorium.

An expert in his field, Alfred Mele, the William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University, comes to SVSU as part of SVSU’s annual Beutler Forum on Ethics and Practice, and Visiting Scholars and Artists Series.

While teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses at Florida State, Mele has authored 11 books and more than 200 articles covering a range of topics including free will, motivation, self-deception and more. His most recent publications include "Free: Why Science Hasn't Disproved Free Will," and "A Dialogue on Free Will and Science," both published in 2014. He has also edited several books.

Between 2010 and 2013, Mele acted as the director of the Big Questions in Free Will Project in which scientists and philosophers aimed to improve understanding of free will in three areas: science, philosophy and theology.

Mele is currently the director of the Philosophy and Science of Self-Control Project which began in 2014. The project provides incentives and opportunities for collaborative philosophical and scientific research on self-control.