Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"
Trialectic is an ambitious, far-ranging book about morality and human agency whose goal is to reconcile radically different ways of understanding people and thereby re-envision the law. Alces has no illusions that this will be easy but he knows the territory well, focusing instead on practical interpretations of morality and their implications for law. In the process we are treated to many fascinating excursions into law, neuroscience, psychology, and evolution.” -- Martha J. Farah | University of Pennsylvania
"Peter Alces bravely explores the legal implications of the fact that, as we are mechanistic, biological organisms, moral responsibility and free will are fictions. Believing otherwise, in his succinct words, 'may cost more, in harm, than law can afford.' Alces makes his case with nuanced, provocative ideas and elegant writing. This should be required reading for anyone believing that all the criminal justice system needs is some reforming." -- Robert Sapolsky | author of “Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst" | Stanford University
Table of ContentsRead This First (Spoiler Alert)
1 The Plan
2 Tensions
3 “Neurosciences”
4 The Mechanics of “Morality”
5 The Cost of “Morality”
6 An Extreme Position, Indeed
Coda: But . . . “What Is the Best Argument against Your Thesis?”
Innocent Accessories (Before and After the Fact): Revealed
Notes
Bibliography
Index