Brain of Trial, Free Will, and the Principle of Alternative Possibilities

Journal 6
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Journal 6
In ‘The Brain on Trial’, David Eagleman makes a serious case on the nature of free will and just how much free will individuals have. By nature, human beings are assumed to be rational beings capable of making choices out of free will when not under duress. It is this assumption, according to Eagleman (2011), that the law carries in making judgements.
However, this assumption is flawed because it fails to consider the influence of biology on human beings and how much biological nature and composition tend to stifle free will among human beings (Eagleman, 2011). For instance, the absence of free will in patients with Alzheimer’s, Tourette’s syndrome, and frontotemporal dementia signals just how limited free will can be, and how it is predisposed to the biological nature of an individual. In this sense, the author posits that free will is not entirely free of human biology, and particularly from the neurological status of an individual.
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