The third installment in the Philosophy Café series is 'Do developments in neuroscience threaten free will and hence moral responsibility?' and will be facilitated by Professor Gerard O'Brien from the University of Adelaide.

It has become commonplace to hear the claim that recent developments in neuroscience demonstrate that free will – the idea that we freely choose our actions – is merely an illusion conjured up by our brains. Yet the notion of free will lies at the very foundation of our conception of moral and criminal responsibility. “Willusionsim”, as it is known, thus heralds a revolution in our understanding of ourselves as moral agents and the role and purpose of our criminal justice system. But is free will really illusory? Our task in this session will be to unpack the central neuroscientifically-inspired arguments in favour of willusionism and consider whether they stand up to scrutiny.