While most programmes in neuroscience are understandably built around imparting foundational knowledge of cell biology, neurons, networks and physiology, there is less attention paid to critical perspectives on methods. This book addresses this gap by covering a broad array of topics, including the philosophy of science, challenges of terminology and language, reductionism and social aspects of science, to challenge claims to explanation and understanding in neuroscience. Using examples from dominant areas of neuroscience research alongside novel material from systems that are less often presented, it promotes the general need of scientists (and non-scientists) to think critically. Chapters also explore translations between neuroscience and technology, artificial intelligence, education and criminology. Featuring accessible material alongside further resources for deeper study, this work serves as an essential resource for undergraduate and graduate courses in psychology, neuroscience and biological sciences, while also supporting researchers in exploring philosophical and methodological challenges in contemporary research.

A framing case study examines North Korea’s nuclear tests. Then the chapter examines how states make international law. The chapter specifically discusses: (1) treaties, including entry into treaties, reservations, interpretation, and exit; (2) customary international law, including state practice, acceptance as law (opinio juris), and conceptual challenges; and (3) other important factors, including general principles, unilateral declarations, and peremptory norms (jus cogens).

This chapter considers neuroscience translations and attempts to apply our knowledge of the nervous system in practical approaches. I start by discussing the traditional areas of translation, neurology and psychiatry, and the extent to which a focus on neurobiological aspects can help in addressing these conditions. I then turn to more recent claims that neuroscience can inform educational practice, including claims of pharmacological cognitive enhancement, and neurocriminology claims that we will be able to predict and prevent criminal behaviour by identifying the neural mechanisms involved. The discussion covers brain imaging and heritability approaches that try to identify biological bases that can be targeted in translations and interventions, highlighting the caveats associated with these approaches and the claims made from them.

This chapter considers new tools introduced in neuroscience over the past thirty years and claims that these tools will overcome traditional limitations. Some claim that tools lead scientific advances; I question this claim, not by negating the utility of new tools, but highlighting that they have to be applied to relevant concepts. Tool development has been and maintains a major aspect of neuroscience, with the US BRAIN initiative investing over a billion dollars by the end of the decade to develop new tools. I cover computer modelling, molecular genetics, connectomics, calcium and voltage imaging, optogentics and neural pixel probes. I highlight the advantages of each approach, but then discuss various caveats that should be highlighted to promote attempts to address them and improve the insight that the techniques can give.

This brief chapter considers what we mean by knowledge, explanation and understanding, aspects that have and remain areas of debate in the philosophy of science. Despite scientists referring to these aspects routinely in ways that suggest their meaning is clear, examples are given that suggest the terms can actually be used in various ways by different people. It is important to consider what is being claimed and why in a claimed explanation or a claim to understanding, because the terms carry different weights and subjectively mean different things. This can lead to confusion and errors of reasoning that can constrain a field.

This chapter looks at claims to understanding. It begins by looking at the system I have worked on, the lamprey spinal cord locomotor circuit, and claims that circuit function and behaviour can be understood in terms of the interactions of spinal cord nerve cells. I highlight that the claims to experimental confirmation actually reflect various assumptions and extrapolations and that the claimed understanding is lacking. I then look at the Nobel Prize winning work on the Aplysia gill withdrawal reflex, making the same conclusion as the lamprey, various assumptions and extrapolations are used to claim causal links, and in doing this commit various logical fallacies, including confusing correlation for causation and begging the question. I finish by looking at hippocampal long-term potentiation and claims it is the cellular basis of memory, again highlighting that the claimed links have not been made.

A framing case study discusses child workers in Bolivia. Then the chapter provides an overview of international human rights law. The chapter first discusses the historical origins of the human rights movement and the multilateral and regional human rights systems. Then it outlines major physical integrity rights, including laws that prohibit genocide, ethnic cleansing, torture, and human trafficking. It next turns to major civil and political rights, including the right to free expression, assembly, and association, various religious protections, and criminal justice rights. Finally, it examines major economic, social, and cultural rights, including rules about labor, economic and social assistance, cultural rights, and the rights of marginalized groups, like women, children, and the disabled.

This introductory chapter starts by considering the distinction between doubt and denial, and why retaining doubt in science is needed to ensure claims are accurate. It then discusses neuroscience aims and claims, and how the insight obtained is directed at translations to practical use in artificial intelligence, neurology, psychiatry and wider translations to society; for example, education and cognitive enhancement. The chapter highlights the relevance of philosophy and history to science, aspects to which science students are seldom exposed. This includes discussion of science denial by popularist politicians and corporations who try and ignore or dismiss evidence that negates their views or products. These aspects are highlighted as being important to defend science and ensure that scientific claims are as accurate as possible, and that in an age of disinformation we all need to think critically, mirroring the workers’ educational movements of the late nineteenth century.

A framing case study describes Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Then the chapter provides an overview of law on the use of force. The chapter begins by describing the historical movement to prohibit the use of force. It then discusses the use of force with UN Security Council authorization. Next, it examines the complex topic of self-defense, including how states can respond to armed attacks, whether they can prevent armed attacks, and how they can protect themselves against non-state actors. Finally, the chapter probes whether the use of force is ever legally justified for other reasons, including: protecting nationals abroad; humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect; and when states consent to intervention.

A framing case study describes the trial of Hissène Habré, the deposed leader of Chad who was prosecuted for multiple international crimes in Senegal. The chapter then discusses international criminal law. The chapter first discusses major principles of international criminal law and its evolution. It next discusses the key elements for establishing criminal guilt, including: the definition of core crimes; modes of responsibility and liability; and possible defences. Finally, the chapter surveys the major institutions that enforce international criminal law by discussing the operations of the International Criminal Court and the assertion of universal jurisdiction by domestic courts.