8 - Neurolaw. A New Paradigm in Legal Philosophy

Summary

Introduction

The main goal of this work is to present the issues connected with a new field of interdisciplinary study – neurolaw. Neurolaw is an emerging field that focuses on the potential for neuroscientific achievements to influence legal science. The structure of argumentation will be as follows: firstly, I will discuss some metatheoretical questions before presenting some of the practical and philosophical consequences of the applications of new science to legal reality. One of the goals of this work will be to demonstrate that changes in legal philosophy are strongly connected with the practical side of legal science and, conversely, when we modify legal practice through neuroscientific achievements it has an impact on legal theory and philosophy. This is especially so when it comes to philosophical issues since it may change our understanding (or manner of interpretation) of basic legal principles.

That is to say, this work is not a full description of the actual state of research in neurolaw. The purpose of it, and the real reason for writing this article, is to show the dimensions of changes in legal sciences thanks to the rapid development of neuroscience. In other words, it is a presentation of the ways in which we can be a witness to the naturalization of normative science. We will start our analysis from a discussion of some meta-theoretical questions.