Consciousness, free action and the brain

This article has three aims. First, I want to situate an account of the consciousness of free action, a form of consciousness I will call ‘volitional consciousness', within an account of consciousness generally. To do that I have to explain -- briefly -- some general features of consciousness. Secondly I want to discuss some of the implications of volitional consciousness for the explanation of rational behaviour and the existence of the self. Finally I want to relate this whole discussion to the traditional problem of the freedom of the will, and propose ways in which the problem of free will might be solved as a neurobiological problem.