Didikin A.B. Neurolaw Student Workshop 2025 at the Maqsut Narikbayev University

НАУЧНАЯ ЖИЗНЬ

DOI: 10.51634/2307-5201_2025_4_128

УДК 17.03; 340.12

MРНТИ 02.51.15; 10.07.27

Аnton B. Didikin, Doctor of Philosophy, PhD in Law, Professor, Higher School of Law  Maqsut Narikbayev University (Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan), Head of IVR Division in Central Asia, е-mail: Адрес электронной почты защищен от спам-ботов. Для просмотра адреса в вашем браузере должен быть включен Javascript.

In the autumn semester of the 2025–2026 academic year the Research School of Legal Theory and Legal Philosophy together with the Central Asian Division of the International Association for the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy (IVR), organized an academic event for students — the Neurolaw Student Workshop.

Students preparing their graduation theses on the influence of neuroscience research results on jurisprudence had the opportunity to discuss their findings and analyze scientific sources on the subject with leading professors of the Research School — Professors A. B. Didikin, V. V. Ogleznev, and A. Zh. Nauryzbai.

The Neurolaw Student Workshop became a platform for discussions on how significantly neuroscientific data transform traditional conceptions of legal responsibility, considering the limitations of free will revealed by neuroscience experiments; what changes are required in the procedures for evaluating evidence involving neuroscientists in court proceedings, and how to approach the issue of criminal responsibility, given the diversity of diagnoses associated with social aggression and unlawful behavior.

The outcomes of the workshop’s several sessions led to a few conclusions that inspire further research. First of all it was noted that Neurolaw is not a branch of law in the strict sense but rather an interdisciplinary field that studies the influence of brain activity on issues of guilt, sanity, and legal responsibility. It does not and cannot replace the normative legal evaluation of the unlawfulness of human actions.

Furthermore it is within the scope of Neurolaw that the importance of using neuroimaging data and other forms of brain scanning increases — for identifying limitations in a person’s ability to control their behavior, assessing the likelihood of recidivism, and evaluating age and levels of intellectual development in adolescents. 

At the same time it is crucial to critically assess the degree of reliability of such neuroscientific data, their validity for understanding mental and neurological disorders, the risk of exaggerated trust in brain images, issues of confidentiality and “mental integrity” as well as the danger of deterministic interpretations that may undermine traditional concepts of free will and responsibility.

During the workshops students discussed ethical and legal aspects of using neurotechnologies for lie detection in testimonies, predicting violent and aggressive behavior and modernizing criminal justice through the ways of defence the cognitive human rights and procedural safeguards.

Materials for discussion included scientific works in the field of Neurolaw by prominent scholars such as M. Pardo, D. Patterson, F. Schauer, and several European researchers, as well as publications by Professors A. B. Didikin and V. V. Ogleznev, whose contributions have played an important role in shaping this interdisciplinary field of study [1; 2; 3]. As a result of the workshop students’ diploma theses are expected to become more well-founded and objective in their conclusions.

References:

1. Pardo M., Patterson D. Philosophical Foundations of Law and Neuroscience. Oxford University Press, 2016.
2. Didikin A. Free Will, Action and Responsibility: Philosophical and Legal Analysis. Tomsk State University Journal of Philosophy, Sociology and Political Science. 2019. Vol. 48. P. 186–192 [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3395969]
3. Ogleznev V.V. Bondarev V.G. Philosophy of Punishment: The Capacity of Compromise Theories. Tomsk State University Journal of Philosophy, Sociology and Political Science. 2024. Vol. 81. P. 129–139.