Mental agency, phenomenology, and irruption theory: Ingredients for an integrated first- and third-person investigation of free will

This theoretical paper argues that free will can be investigated through an integrated first- and third-person approach by combining mental agency, phenomenology, and irruption theory. The authors propose that these three ingredients provide a framework for studying volitional action without reducing it to either subjective experience alone or external observation alone. The paper contends that irruption theory, which examines how novel actions emerge from prior conditions, bridges phenomenological accounts of agency with neuroscientific data. The argument suggests that free will is not an illusion but a phenomenon requiring multi-level analysis.

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Abstract

Mental agency, phenomenology, and irruption theory: Ingredients for an integrated first- and third-person investigation of free will