Recovery of Mind and Body

Thomas Nadelhoffer (M.A. '99) came to Georgia State to study neuroscience and philosophy and to explore, through science, why we think the way we do. He never expected the theoretical to become personal, but it did.

In 1997, Nadelhoffer suffered a broken neck during a hit-and-run accident. Since then, he has lived with permanent pain and has learned - firsthand - about the nervous system and how it affects a person's psyche when it is damaged. "It was not a great thing to endure in graduate school," said Nadelhoffer, now an assistant professor of philosophy at Dickenson College in Pennsylvania. "I finished with a 3.9 GPA, but it was a big blip in the road. Still, I had the support of great faculty and friends, and it all worked out for the best."

For a few years, he focused his research on how neuroscience connected with our ideas of pain.

"The accident affected me personally, but it didn't really affect me philosophically," he said.

In recent years, he has moved on to pioneering a new field of neuroscience called neurolaw, which explores how jurors make decisions in court cases.

Currently a visiting scholar at Duke University, Nadelhoffer is working with colleagues there to learn more about how people perceive scientific concepts introduced in trials - and how they use them in making decisions.

"Once we have a better understanding of the science, we can then turn our attention to policy issues in terms of how we use concepts in courtrooms," he said.