ABSTRACT
Plato was the first to define scientific thinking as critique in his language: making a distinction, the distinction between what is and what is not, between real and illusionary, true and false. Since Plato it is commonsensical to say that criticism leads to science and that science is impossible without criticism. The chapter discusses the central thesis in the work of the Belgian philosopher, Jan Verplaetse, a thesis announced in his 2009 book, Localising the Moral Sense. Verplaetse states that the progress that science has made since Kant allows people to reduce freedom to natural laws. The implication of this is that freedom as such no longer exists, nor does the moral feeling of guilt, so often accompanying the moral concerns. Verplaetse's main argument is that the advanced modern sciences, and first of all the neurosciences, require such a conclusion. The chapter shows the limits of neurology's attempt to comprehend freedom.
