Dr Andrew Field

Qualifications

• BA (Hons) Philosophy – University of Birmingham
• Mphil Philosophy – University of Birmingham
• MSc Neuroscience in Cognitive Neuroscience – King’s College London
• PhD Jurisprudence (to be completed) – University of Surrey

Publications

• Andrew Field (2016) “Freewill and Consciousness” Jurisprudence 7 (1):127-137.

In Progress

• Andrew Field (draft on request) “The Bizarre Metaphysics in Crime and Culpability”
• Andrew Field (draft on request) “Why Scepticism on Negligence is Wrong: Reflections on the Preconscious and Epistemic Certainties.”
• Andrew Field (draft on request) “The Knight of Cups as a Gnostic Text in a Postmodern World”

Research Interests

My main research interests lie in Jurisprudence, Neuroethics, and Metaphysics.

My research focuses on whether we should rethink criminal responsibility in the neuroscientific age. My thesis argues that the practice of criminal responsibility needs to be updated due to the startling insights emerging from the behavioural, chemical and neuroscientific (BCN) sciences. Such insights suggest we are not ultimately in control of our decisions as we think we are, even though we have ubiquitous tendency to believe that we are in control of our decisions. The hard determinist perspective, which accepts such insights, argues we are not ultimately morally responsible for our decisions. However, as I argue, this perspective leaves out crucial aspects of the human experience that we cannot do without. My solution to this issue is to hold a dualistic framework (despite the obvious tension of both positions) where we accept both the insights from the BCN sciences and the notion that we have “free-will” in some morally responsible sense.