Free Will, Science, and Criminal Law: Toward the Humanization of the Criminal Justice System in the 21st Century
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The advancement of neuroscience and psychiatry has shifted the debate on free will from the metaphysical to the empirical plane, posing a direct challenge to the principle of culpability inherent in retributive criminal law. This article critically analyzes the tension between biological determinism and criminal responsibility, examining the experiments of Libet and Soon, as well as the incompatibilist and compatibilist philosophical traditions. It argues that empirical evidence does not destroy criminal responsibility but rather demands its reformulation from a naturalized compatibilism: culpability no longer requires metaphysical free will, but rather the capacity for practical agency and responsiveness to reasons. The article concludes that science must operate as a precision tool to individualize penalties and orient the system towards preventive and rehabilitative purposes, abandoning the retributive fiction.
Downloads
Article Details
Section
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
References
Bergado Rosado, J. (Agosto, 2013). La frenología. La «Ciencia» de los cráneos. Juventud técnica, s. p. http://www.geocities.ws/rationalis/pseudociencia/frenologia/index.htm
Biblia Reina-Valera. (1960). https://www.bible.com/es/bible/compare/DEU.30
Burns, J.M. y Swerdlow, R.H. (2003). Right orbitofrontal tumor with pedophilia symptom and constructional apraxia sign. Archives of Neurology, 60(3), 437-440.
Cabrera Bibilonia, A. J. (2023). Una breve historia de la iusfilosofía penal cubana del siglo XIX. En González Monzón, A. (Ed.). Filosofía del Derecho en Cuba: Constituciones para su historia, 128-129. Olejnik.
Eling, P. y Finger, S. (2021). Gall, Spurzheim, and the Phrenological Movement: Insights and Perspectives. Routledge.
Foucault, M. (1996). La vida de los hombres infames. Editorial Altamira.
García González, A. (2013). Descubridores de la mente: la frenología en Cuba y España en la primera mitad del siglo XIX. Universidad de Sevilla-Secretariado de Publicaciones.
Hobbes, T. (1980). El Leviatán. FCE.
Hume, D. (1992). Tratado de la naturaleza humana. Tecnos.
Kant, I. (2012). Fundamentación para una metafísica de las costumbres. Alianza Editorial.
Kelsen, H. (2009). La teoría pura del Derecho. Eudeba.
Laplace, P. S. (1902). Ensayo filosófico sobre las probabilidades. John Wiley & Sons.
Libet, B. (1983). Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity. Brain, 106(3), 623-642.
Marchetti, P. (2012) Cesare Lombroso. En Enciclopedia Italiana Di Scienze, Lettere ed arti: Il contributo italiano allá storia del pensiero ottava appendice, 366-370. Abramo Printing
Mill Stuart, J. (2014). El utilitarismo: Un sistema de la lógica. Alianza Editorial.
Pereboom, D. (2001). Living without free will. Cambridge University Press.
Reinhard, F. (2002). Sobre la estructura del concepto de culpabilidad. B de F.
Soon, C. S., Brass, M., Heinze, H. J. y Haynes, J. D. (Abril, 2008). Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain. Nature Neuroscience, 11(4), 543-545.
Spinoza, B. (2000). Ética demostrada según el orden geométrico. Trotta.
Van Inwagen, P. (1975). The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism. Philosophical Studies, 27(3), 185-199. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01624156