Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2006 - Volume 29, Issue 05  


Open Peer Commentary

The Godfather of soul

Jesse Preston a1 , Kurt Gray a2 and Daniel M. Wegner a2
a1 Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5C2, Canada jpresto@uwo.ca
a2 Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138. kurtgray@fas.harvard.edu http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/%7Ekurtgray/ wegner@wgh.harvard.edu http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~wegner/

Article author query
preston j   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
gray k   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 
wegner dm   [PubMed][Google Scholar] 

Abstract

An important component of souls is the capacity for free will, as the origin of agency within an individual. Belief in souls arises in part from the experience of conscious will, a compelling feeling of personal causation that accompanies almost every action we take, and suggests that an immaterial self is in charge of the physical body.