Abstract

In the present work, I shall defend that although there is undoubtedly a retrospective component as a source of the experience of agency, that does not imply that it may have another component that is determined by an actual link in the causal chain that leads from thought to action. Moreover, I shall defend that such a link may actually exist, and I will attempt a brief description of what it could be. Hence, in Section 1 I will begin by examining Daniel Wegner’s Illusion argument as a token argument of the perspective that the experience of agency is retrospective inference, and argue that he does not demonstrate that the experience of agency is not causally connected to intentional action. In Section 2 I will review the evidence gathered in the research surrounding the intentional binding effect, which will serve as positive proof that a retrospective component is not sufficient to account for the sense of agency.