6: We Are the Law

Lecture abstract

We all tend to forget that we are the law in the sense that we make the rules as a function of our current societal and personal values. As the rationale for our values and beliefs change, so too can the laws we choose to live by.

Appreciating the mind/brain system as a downwardly causal system liberates one from a closed loop kind of determinism. Under closed loop determinism, the concept of personal responsibility becomes nonsensical.

On the other hand, a downwardly causal system that responds to new information and discovery and that can learn social rules is adaptive. Moreover, since this downwardly causal system exists alongside billions of others, all of the ingredients for personal responsibility are present.

The response of our legal system to the progress of neuroscience should, therefore, be both conservative and forward looking, preserving the concept of personal responsibility while cautiously updating other legal constructs and policies in instances when neuroscience provides compelling evidence for specific adjustments.

As for the rest of us—for these are truly questions that inspire deep thinking and occasional existential torment in each of us—well, we can cast aside our determinism-related anxieties. Contrary to common beliefs about scientific determinism, with all of its implications for futility of purpose and meaning, we see that we are everything but that. We are free at last."

Lecture video