Representation of free will as part of the problem of consciousness in physicalism

The present article focuses on comprehending the problem of free will in the philosophical discourse of the direction of consciousness and mental causality. Several conceptual approaches, common in the philosophy of consciousness and cognitive sciences, in which the problem of free will is revealed, are analyzed in this study. Different research positions are contrasted, where materialist ideas fix the absence of a direct influence of consciousness on our behavior, while idealist ones, on the contrary, affirm consciousness as the center of action with a causal potential. The major problems of the phenomenon of free will from the point of view of existential philosophy as part of modern physicalist theories are disclosed. It is stated that with sufficient proof of their extreme assumptions, man and culture will face new existential problems, within which the subjective world will need to explain and determine its place in reality.