Why Neurotechnologies? About the Purposes, Opportunities and Limitations of Neurotechnologies in Clinical Applications
This article will shortly review different stakeholders ’ opinions and their expectation in the field, assembles information the state-of-the art in medical applications of neurotechnological implants and describes and assesses the fundamental technologies that are used to build up these implants starting with essential requirements of technical materi als in contact with living tissue. The different paragraphs guide the reader through the main aspects of neurotechnologies and lay a foundation of knowledge to be able to contribute to the discussion in which cases implants will be beneficial and in which cases we should e...
Source: Neuroethics - April 12, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
More than our Body: Minimal and Enactive Selfhood in Global Paralysis
AbstractThis paper looks to phenomenology and enactive cognition in order to shed light on the self and sense of self of patients with locked-in syndrome. It critically discusses the concept of the minimal self, both in its phenomenological and ontological dimension. Ontologically speaking, the self is considered to be equal to a person ’s sensorimotor embodiment. This bodily self also grounds the minimal sense of self as being a distinct experiential subject. The view from the minimal bodily self presupposes that sociality comes after the self, or that in other words, the essence of self remains independent of our socia...
Source: Neuroethics - April 9, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Locked-In Syndrome: a Challenge to Standard Accounts of Selfhood and Personhood?
AbstractA point made repeatedly over the last few years is that the Locked-in Syndrome (LIS) offers unique real-life material for revisiting and challenging certain ingrained philosophical assumptions about the nature of personhood and personal identity. Indeed, the claim has been made that a closer study of LIS will call into question some of the traditional conceptions of personhood that primarily highlight the significance of consciousness, self-consciousness and autonomy and suggest the need for a more interpersonal account of the person. I am skeptical about these claims and will in the following argue that the theore...
Source: Neuroethics - April 9, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Determinism, Moral Responsibility and Retribution
AbstractIn this article, we will identify two issues that deserve greater attention from those researching lay people ’s attitudes to moral responsibility and determinism. The first issue concerns whether people interpret the term “moral responsibility” in a retributive way and whether they are motivated to hold offenders responsible for pre-determined behaviour by considerations other than retributivism, e.g . the desires to condemn the action (as opposed to the actor) and to protect society. The second issue concerns whether explicitly rejecting moral responsibility and retributivism, after reading about determinis...
Source: Neuroethics - March 28, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
A critical analysis of Australia ’s ban on the sale of electronic nicotine delivery systems
AbstractAustralia does not allow adult smokers to buy or use electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) that contain nicotine without a prescription. This paper critically evaluates the empirical and ethical justifications provided for the policy by Federal and State governments, public health advocates and health organisations. These are: (1) that ENDS should only be approved as products for smoking cessation when there is evidence from randomised controlled trials that they are effective; (2) that as a matter of precaution we should not allow the sale of ENDS to smokers as consumer products because we do not know what t...
Source: Neuroethics - March 17, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
What we (Should) Talk about when we Talk about Deep Brain Stimulation and Personal Identity
AbstractA number of reports have suggested that patients who undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS) may experience changes to their personality or sense of self. These reports have attracted great philosophical interest. This paper surveys the philosophical literature on personal identity and DBS and draws on an emerging empirical literature on the experiences of patients who have undergone this therapy to argue that the existing philosophical discussion of DBS and personal identity frames the problem too narrowly. Much of the discussion by neuroethicists centers on the nature of the threat posed by DBS, asking whether it is...
Source: Neuroethics - March 10, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Cognitive Enhancement vs. Plagiarism: a Quantitative Study on the Attitudes of an Italian Sample
AbstractIrrespective of the presence of formal norms, behaviours such as plagiarism, data fabrication and falsification are commonly regarded as unethical and unfair. Almost unanimously, they are considered forms of academic misconduct. Is this the case also for newer behaviours that technology is making possible and are now entering the academic scenario?In the current paper we focus on cognitive enhancement (CE), the use of drugs to enhance cognitive skills of an otherwise healthy individual. At present, there are no formal rules forbidding its use in the academic setting. However, it is not clear whether there is a gene...
Source: Neuroethics - February 27, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Artificial Intelligence as a Socratic Assistant for Moral Enhancement
AbstractThe moral enhancement of human beings is a constant theme in the history of humanity. Today, faced with the threats of a new, globalised world, concern over this matter is more pressing. For this reason, the use of biotechnology to make human beings more moral has been considered. However, this approach is dangerous and very controversial. The purpose of this article is to argue that the use of another new technology, AI, would be preferable to achieve this goal. Whilst several proposals have been made on how to use AI for moral enhancement, we present an alternative that we argue to be superior to other proposals ...
Source: Neuroethics - February 26, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
The Meta-Analysis of Neuro-Marketing Studies: Past, Present and Future
AbstractOne of the new topics that has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years is neuro-marketing. The purpose of the present study is to achieve an insight into the progress of studies on neuro-marketing through review of scientific articles in this field with methodology text-mining. A total of 394 articles were selected between 2005 and 2017 using the search for “neuro-marketing” in valid databases. By reviewing the title, abstract, and keywords at various stages of screening, the researchers selected 311 articles related to the neuro-marketing topic in order to carry out the text mining process. Then...
Source: Neuroethics - February 12, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Australian Psychotherapy for Trauma Incorporating Neuroscience: Evidence- and Ethics-Informed Practice
AbstractCurrently there are several psychotherapy modalities utilising theory and research from neuroscience in treatment frameworks for mental health and recovery from trauma. In Australia this includes: (i) the Conversational Model of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, a contemporary psychodynamic approach used for treating Borderline Personality Disorder and other trauma-related disorders; (ii) Electroencephalogram Neurofeedback, a brain training therapy which has been used as an adjunct to counselling/psychotherapy in traumatic stress and developmental trauma; and (iii) Somatic Experiencing, an integrative mind-body approach...
Source: Neuroethics - January 31, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Neuroscience and Punishment: From Theory to Practice
AbstractIn a 2004 paper, Greene and Cohen predicted that neuroscience would revolutionise criminal justice by presenting a mechanistic view of human agency that would change people ’s intuitions about retributive punishment. According to their theory, this change in intuitions would in turn lead to the demise of retributivism within criminal justice systems. Their influential paper has been challenged, most notably by Morse, who has argued that it is unlikely that there will be major changes to criminal justice systems in response to neuroscience. In this paper we commence a tentative empirical enquiry into the claims of...
Source: Neuroethics - January 17, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Neurolaw in Australia: The Use of Neuroscience in Australian Criminal Proceedings
AbstractRecent research has detailed the use of neuroscience in several jurisdictions, but Australia remains a notable omission. To fill this substantial void we performed a systematic review of neuroscience in Australian criminal cases. The first section of this article reports the results of our review by detailing the purposes for which neuroscience is admitted into Australian criminal courts. We found that neuroscience is being admitted pre-trial (as evidence of fitness to stand trial), at trial (to support the defence of insanity and substantial impairment of the mind), and during sentencing. In the second section, we...
Source: Neuroethics - January 5, 2019 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Valuing Emotions in Punishment: an Argument for Social Rehabilitation with the Aid of Social and Affective Neuroscience
AbstractDominant approaches to punishment tend to downplay the socio-emotional dimension of perpetrators. This attitude is inconsistent with the body of evidence from social and affective neuroscience and its adjacent disciplines on the crucial role of emotions and emotion-related skills coupled with positive social stimuli in promoting prosocial behavior. Through a literature review of these studies, this article explores and assesses the implications that greater consideration of emotional and social factors in sentencing and correctional practices might have for conventional punitive approaches to crime. It argues that ...
Source: Neuroethics - December 4, 2018 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Evidence-Based Neuroethics, Deep Brain Stimulation and Personality - Deflating, but not Bursting, the Bubble
AbstractGilbert et al. have raised important questions about the empirical grounding of neuroethical analyses of the apparent phenomenon of Deep Brain Stimulation ‘causing’ personality changes. In this paper, we consider how to make neuroethical claims appropriately calibrated to existing evidence, and the role that philosophical neuroethics has to play in this enterprise of ‘evidence-based neuroethics’. In the first half of the paper, we begin by hig hlighting the challenges we face in investigating changes to PIAAAS following DBS, explaining how different trial designs may be of different degrees of utility, depe...
Source: Neuroethics - December 3, 2018 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
Phenomenology of the Locked-In Syndrome: an Overview and Some Suggestions
AbstractThere is no systematic knowledge about how individuals with Locked-in Syndrome (LIS) experience their situation. A phenomenology of LIS, in the sense of a description of subjective experience as lived by the ill persons themselves, does not yet exist as an organized endeavor. The present article takes a step in that direction by reviewing various materials and making some suggestions. First-person narratives provide the most important sources, but very few have been discussed. LIS barely appears in bioethics and neuroethics. Research on Quality of Life (QOL) provides relevant information, one questionnaire study ex...
Source: Neuroethics - October 31, 2018 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research
