Person
Alfred Mele
Philosopher whose correspondence, arguments about Libet-style experiments, and own participation in one frame the episode.
Stories on Angle
Background
Selected excerpts from Wikipedia. This is general background, not Angle's reporting, and it may have changed since the stories above were published.
Alfred Remen Mele (born 1951) is an American philosopher and the William H. and Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University. He is also the past Director of the Philosophy and Science of Self-Control Project (2014-2017) and the Big Questions in Free Will Project (2010-2013). Mele is the author of thirteen books and over 250 articles.
Mele attended Wayne State University and received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Michigan in 1979. He taught at Davidson College from 1979 until 2000, when he took up his present position at Florida State University.
Free will and other topics
Mele began his career writing about Aristotle and practical reason, but gradually moved into a focus on contemporary issues in the philosophy of mind and action. While not taking a stand on the question whether free will is or is not compatible with determinism, Mele develops positive conceptions of how free will may be implemented from both “compatibilist” and “incompatibilist” perspectives. He also has argued that claims that scientists have proved that free will is an illusion are not credible. Mele is also known for his development of a causal theory of how intentional actions are produced and for his deflationary view of self-deception.
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