The illusion of free will

1. Any conscious action starts off with an unconscious cause X.

[I'll leave for now (and may never return to!) just what that cause is except to offer: (a) a pre-existing condition = determinism; or (b) a random (quantum?) event = roll of dice; or (c) something else really spooky, e.g. the "brains in vats" option.]

2a. X leads to action Z. (I lift my arm.) This is the actual causal path.

2b. X also results in a thought Y, "I'm going to raise my arm."

The experience of conscious will is when the thought Y and the action Z coincide, so we assume Y resulted in Z--the apparent causal path. ("I decided to raise my arm and it raised, so I must have free will!")

"The experience of willing an act arises from interpreting one's thought as the cause of that act."

My summary from Daniel Wegner (2002) The Illusion of Conscious Will