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Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics pp 1–12Cite as

Neuroethics

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Abstract

Neuroethics lies at the intersection of the clinical brain sciences, psychology, law, and moral philosophy. Although neuroethics overlaps to some extent with traditional issues in bioethics, it should not be categorized as a subdivision of bioethics. The connections between the brain and behavior explored by the neurosciences raise a distinctive set of ethical questions from those in traditional areas of bioethics. Neuroethics can be divided into the ethics of neuroscience and the neuroscience of ethics. The first branch involves questions such as the ratio of risks to benefits for patients taking psychotropic drugs or undergoing neurosurgical procedures and whether they have the mental capacity to give informed consent to these interventions. The second branch involves investigating the neurobiological basis of moral reasoning and decision-making through brain imaging. After providing a historical background of the field and key definitions, this chapter discusses the three currently most debated topics in neuroethics: brain imaging to assess moral and legal responsibility; cognitive enhancement through psychopharmacology; and the use of imaging and other techniques to diagnose and treat prolonged disorders of consciousness.

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Further Readings

  • Farah, M. (Ed.). (2010). Neuroethics: An introduction with readings. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

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  • Glannon, W. (2007). Bioethics and the brain. New York: Oxford University Press.

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Acknowledgment

I am grateful to a referee for helpful comments on an earlier version of this chapter

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

    Walter Glannon

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  1. Walter Glannon
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Correspondence to Walter Glannon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Duquesne University Center for Healthcare Ethics, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Henk ten Have

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© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Glannon, W. (2015). Neuroethics. In: ten Have, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_307-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_307-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05544-2

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