Law and the Sciences of the Brain/Mind

Oxford Handbook on Law and the Regulation of Technology, Oxford, Forthcoming

U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 16-15

53 Pages Posted: 24 Apr 2016

See all articles by Stephen Morse

Stephen Morse

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Date Written: April 20, 2016

Abstract

This chapter is a submission to the Oxford Handbook of Law and the Regulation of Technology edited by Roger Brownsword. It considers whether the new sciences of the brain/mind, especially neuroscience and behavioral genetics, are likely to transform the law’s traditional concepts of the person, agency and responsibility. The chapter begins with a brief speculation about why so many people think these sciences will transform the law. After reviewing the law’s concepts, misguided challenges to them, and the achievements of the new sciences, the chapter confronts the claim that these sciences prove that we are really not agents and that no one is responsible. It argues that this claim cannot be supported empirically or conceptually and no revolution in legal thinking is foreseeable. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the new sciences have little to offer the law at present, but in the future they may contribute modestly to reforming doctrine, policy and practice.

Keywords: Personhood, agency, responsibility, neuroscience, behavioral genetics, compatibilism, rationality, criminal culpability, free will

Suggested Citation

Morse, Stephen J., Law and the Sciences of the Brain/Mind (April 20, 2016). Oxford Handbook on Law and the Regulation of Technology, Oxford, Forthcoming, U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 16-15, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2768275

Stephen J. Morse (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School ( email )

3501 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

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