Although materialists may admit that mind exists the line of causation is from matter to mind. That is, the mind is seen as just an expression of the various forms matter takes and as such is subject to the deterministic “clockwork” movement of matter. As a result there is no room for free will, the belief in which almost all social contracts are made.
Free will can only exist if the line of causation runs from mind to matter, or from mind to matter and from matter back to mind. Mind must precede matter for it to be the master. Otherwise it is just the slave to deterministic forces and has no true reality or effectiveness of its own. The other possibility is that matter is mind in motion, objectified. And as such mind and matter should move simultaneously but mind will be the driving force and matter will reflect the action of mind imprinted on the physical universe.
Neuroscience seeks to answer this question by measuring what comes first: the change in brain state (matter) or the change in consciousness (mind). This assumes that time has a reality more fundamental than mind; otherwise such findings would be meaningless. And the truth is that both theories- matter creating mind and mind creating matter would predict that brain states and mind states should occur simultaneously. And if they do not, what does that truly signify?
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