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Commentary: freedom and function
2008
The journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
While the question of whether our actions are determined or are the result of free will is a deep one in philosophy, it does not need to be answered for forensic psychiatrists to give evidence in court. As Stephen Morse has pointed out, the absence of free will is not named as an excusing condition. The insanity defense, for instance, requires proof of functional impairment, to which psychiatrists can usefully testify. Of the approaches available to determinism, my own preference is that of
pmid:18354119
fatcat:pvsygdn6yjc5jicueojvjvbcdi