Patricia Churchland: UCSD Dept. of Philosophy

Although questions concerning the nature of free choice have long been at the center of philosophical reflection, new discoveries, especially from neuropharmacology and neuropsychology, have lent them a special and very practical urgency. In the courts, in the education of children, and in general in daily life, we assume that some decisions are freely made and that agents should be held accountable for those decisions. On the other hand, there is pressure to expand of the range of allowable excuses from responsibility, as we begin to understand the role of certain neuropathologies in aberrant behavior. These developments take place against the public policy debate concerning the right balance between considerations of public safety, justice, fairness, and individual freedom. From the perspective of neurophilosophy, I shall address some of the broad questions in this arena, including the evolutionary basis for cooperative behavior, the neurobiology of the difference between being in control and being out of control, and the role of emotions in biasing moral choice.