Responsible brains : neuroscience, law, and human culpability / William Hirstein, Katrina L. Sifferd, and Tyler K. Fagan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hirstein, William, author.

Sifferd, Katrina L., author.

Fagan, Tyler K., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Responsibility.

Brain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (294 pages)

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2018]

Summary:

An examination of the relationship between the brain and culpability that offers a comprehensive neuroscientific theory of human responsibility. When we praise, blame, punish, or reward people for their actions, we are holding them responsible for what they have done. Common sense tells us that what makes human beings responsible has to do with their minds and, in particular, the relationship between their minds and their actions. Yet the empirical connection is not necessarily obvious. The "guilty mind" is a core concept of criminal law, but if a defendant on trial for murder were found to have serious brain damage, which brain parts or processes would have to be damaged for him to be considered not responsible, or less responsible, for the crime? What mental illnesses would justify legal pleas of insanity?

Contents:

Introduction – The science of executive processes – Moral responsibility – Criminal responsibility – Consciousness versus the executive processes – Judgement and claims of responsibility – Responsible lives, responsible act – Responsibility under development – Responsibility, capacity, and insanity – Blame, desert, and punishment – Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

0-262-34928-0

0-262-34927-2

OCLC:

1035389565