معرفی
Christopher Taggart is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Surrey specializing in the intersection of legal theory and philosophy. Admitted to the New York and New Jersey State Bars, he previously practiced litigation at Arnold & Porter LLP in New York City before transitioning to academia.
His educational credentials include:
- B.A. from Drew University
- M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame
- J.D. from Yale Law School
- S.J.D. from Harvard Law School (LL.M. waived)
Taggart's research critically engages with analytic jurisprudence, philosophical foundations of criminal law, and action theory. His work systematically examines retributivism's epistemic vulnerabilities, defends agent-causal libertarianism against determinist challenges, and analyzes the voluntary act requirement's philosophical underpinnings. He consistently bridges metaphysical debates about free will with concrete legal applications in punishment theory.
Analysis of his 2013-2025 publications reveals three dominant trajectories: (1) Free will defenses against empirical and conceptual challenges (2021, 2023, 2025), (2) Retributivism's philosophical refinement through epistemic and moral responsibility frameworks (2016, 2019, 2025), and (3) Critical engagement with law-and-economics methodology (2016). His scholarship demonstrates increasing integration of neuroethics with traditional legal philosophy.
At Surrey, Taggart teaches Law and Economics and Legal Obligation and Punishment, directly applying his research to pedagogy. His work maintains rigorous engagement with both analytic philosophy traditions and contemporary legal practice through his prior litigation experience.
