The relationship between physical processes and first-person experience is a central concern of our research. We examine the assumptions behind different accounts of consciousness and free will, and their implications for responsibility and human dignity.
Experience and explanation
Neuroscience and artificial intelligence invite us to distinguish observable capabilities, information processing, and subjective experience. We explore whether a description of physical mechanisms is sufficient to account for experience, and what different answers imply for the understanding of mind and soul.
Dignity in a changing technological world
The Torah’s teaching that humanity is created in the image of God anchors our investigation of human worth. We study its philosophical and ethical significance alongside debates about personhood, posthumanism, and the moral status attributed to artificial systems. These questions matter for how people are treated and how responsibility is understood.
Questions guiding our work
- What distinguishes intelligent performance from subjective experience?
- How are free will and responsibility related?
- How can the idea of the divine image inform the ethics of emerging technologies?