Making sense of law: Critical reflection on neuroscience, socialization and self

Abstract

The development of self codified by the legal system acts as a marker of good citizens in a society where conformity and obligation to social norms matters. In most of the cases, despite cultural differences, conformity plays an important role in the continuity of society and socialization of laws. The question is, ‘how law comes to mind and how we understand others as legally conscious people’? How do we make sense of others as law abiding agents as we are? Are there moral rules we confirm with and how we know about without having any specific knowledge of law discipline? Can we fully explain human experience and the understanding of law by analysing individuals only? What is the psychology of social context impacting our understanding of law and socio-legal self? In all of the above cases does our brain play any special role? These are the questions that will be discussed in this article where a case will be made to understand how free will, action, and our whole gamut of existence in a society are interconnected and any attempt to bifurcate these psychological aspects are on the verge of reductive and incomplete understanding of our existence.