Neuroethics In Principle And Praxis

With the conclusion of the Decade of the Brain and Decade of the Mind, neuroscience has advanced well beyond single neuron functions, and begun to investigate global properties that emerge from central nervous system operation. Core ethical issues for neural intervention, in consequence, now touch on concerns over how the individual as a whole may be affected. Central to these concerns is the fundamental value of the human being, which lends normative weight to questions, interventions, and practices influencing him or her. Yet, despite wide recognition of the crucial relevance of human value, the derivation of metaethical principles that underwrite this value is by no means uniformly agreed to. Why and how the human being is normatively privileged, accordingly, emerge as core questions that frame issues of ethical praxis. This book tackles this dissonance, and exposes the philosophical foundations that are rooting contemporary divisions in ethical approaches to intervention in the nervous system.

Recent advances in the brain sciences have dramatically improved our understanding of brain function. As we find out more and more about what makes us tick, we must stop and consider the ethical implications of this new found knowledge. Will having a new biology of the brain through imaging make us less responsible for our behavior and lose our free will? Should certain brain scan studies be disallowed on the basis of moral grounds? Why is the media so interested in reporting results of brain imaging studies? What ethical lessons from the past can best inform the future of brain imaging? These compelling questions and many more are tackled by a group of contributors to this book on neuroethics. The wide range of disciplinary backgrounds that this book represents, from neuroscience, bioethics and philosophy, to law, social and health care policy, education, religion, and film, allow for profoundly insightful and provocative answers to these questions, and open up the door to a host of new ones. The contributions highlight the timeliness of modern neuroethics today, and assure the longevity and importance of neuroethics for generations to come.

African Leadership is an edited collection enriched by the people who have lived and experienced indigenous leadership first-hand, demonstrating how African leadership is distinctive from usual Western hegemonic paradigms.

There is a growing discussion concerning the relationship between neuroethical reflections and cultural diversity, which is among the most impactful factors in shaping neuroethics, both as a scientific discipline and a social enterprise. The impacts of culture on science and its public perception are particularly relevant to neuroethics, which aims to facilitate the creation of an interface between neuroscience and society at large. Time is ripe for neuroethics to review the influence of the culturally specific contexts from which it originated (i.e. North America and Western Europe) and to also include other cultural perspectives in the discussion. This book illustrates a convergent approach among different cultures in identifying the main issues raised by neuroscience and emerging technologies. This should be taken as a starting point for advancing in the search for shared solutions, which are, if not definitive, at least sufficiently reliable to be translated into democratic deliberative processes.

Principles Of The Philosophy Of The Future by Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach. Translated by Manfred Vogel

Current research claims loneliness is passively caused by external conditions: environmental, cultural, situational, and even chemical imbalances in the brain and hence avoidable. In this book, the author argues that loneliness is actively constituted by acts of reflexive self-consciousness (Kant) and transcendent intentionality (Husserl) and therefore unavoidable.

Bioethics is the application of ethics to the broad field of medicine, including the ethics of patient care, research, and public health. In this book, prominent authors from around the globe discuss the complexities of bioethics as they apply to our current world. Topics range from the philosophical bioethics of the evolution of thinking about marriage from a religious standpoint to the bioethics of radiation protection to value-based medicine and cancer screening for breast cancer. Bioethics in Medicine and Society is wide-ranging, with additional chapters on the ethics of geoengineering, complementary and alternative medicine, and end-of-life ethical dilemmas. Readers with find that the field of bioethics has broad implications throughout society from our most intimate interpersonal relationships to policies being implemented on a global scale.

This is the first book entirely dedicated to exploring issues associated with the nature of neuroethics. It reflects on some of the underlying assumptions in neuroethics, and the implications of those assumptions with respect to training and education programs, research activities, policy engagement, public discourse, teaching, ethics consultation and mentoring, to name but a few areas of interest. Internationally respected and emerging leaders in the area have taken up the pen to express and debate their views about the development, focus and future of neuroethics. They share their analyses and make recommendations regarding how neuroscience could more effectively explore and tackle its philosophical, ethical, and societal implications.