This volume focuses on the emergent field of neuroethics comparing and contrasting how two democracies, Canada and the United States, have begun adapting public policy design to better fit human minds. The book focuses on issues relevant to all members of the general population and discusses a series of policy issues arranged roughly in the order in which they become relevant in a typical person’s lifetime. After the introductory chapter each chapter considers an area of public policy particularly relevant to a different stage of life—from early childhood education policy, to policies for higher education and the workplace, to end of life decisions in living wills and advance directives. The author puts forth that making the shift towards more neurologically appropriate policy will likely be a gradual process hampered primarily by two issues. The first is the inability of neuroscientists to come to agreement on increasingly sophisticated research findings. The second issue points out that bringing policy and neurology into a more synchronous relationship requires a commitment to prolonged effort involves the largely unrecognized reality of entrenched neurological interests. The first chapter introduces the concept of disconnect between policy design with traditional understandings of the brain and goes on to highlight developments in the science of human neurology in recent years. To help contextualize the book, examples of neurological misperceptions are explored in this introductory chapter. Chapters Two through Eleven each explores a specific type of policy, incorporating understandings of the human brain which, modern neuroscience suggests, are debatable.​

This book focuses on neuroethics in higher education in the United States. After introducing readers to the philosophical and policy foundations of the neuroethics of higher education, this book explores essential conundrums in the neuroethical practice of higher education in modern democracies. Focusing on neuroethics from the perspective of universally designed learning and policy design sets this project apart from other work in the field. Advances in neuroscience and changes in attitudes towards disability have identified mechanisms by which higher education infrastructures interact with both individuals considered neurotypical and those with identified disabilities to diminish students’ capacity to enter, persist, and complete higher education. Policy to date has focused on identified disabilities as a requirement for accommodations. This strategy both underestimates the effect of ill-fitting infrastructures on those considered neurologically typical and serves to stratify the student body. As a result, neuroethical gaps abound in higher education.

While neuroscience has provided insights into the structure and function of nervous systems, hard questions remain about the nature of consciousness, mind, and self. Perhaps the most difficult questions involve the meaning of neuroscientific information, and how to pursue and utilize neuroscientific knowledge in ways that are consistent with some construal of social 'good'. Written for researchers and graduate students in neuroscience and bioethics, Scientific and Philosophical Perspectives in Neuroethics explores important developments in neuroscience and neurotechnology, and addresses the philosophical, ethical, and social issues and problems that such advancements generate. It examines three core questions. First, what is the scope and direction of neuroscientific inquiry? Second, how has progress to date affected scientific and philosophical ideas, and finally, what ethical issues and problems does this progress and knowledge incur, both now and in the future?

This volume focuses on topics at the intersection between neuroethics and neurodevelopment, and brings together the perspectives of experts in both clinical assessment and intervention, and researchers in child psychology, neurosciences, medicine, health policy, law, and social work. The goal is to review emerging issues related to the ethical ramifications of how variation in human neurodevelopment is described, and the effects of these descriptions on those with lived experience, clinical and intervention services, and health and social policy. Related topics are also explored including the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ethics of invasive neurotechnology interventions, biomarkers, machine learning, precision medicine. Provides novel and original research on the emerging field of the legal regulation of neuroscience Takes an interdisciplinary approach, with chapters by global scholars from several disciplines, including law, philosophy and medicine Develops a global approach that will be useful in jurisdictions around the globe

Pressing ethical issues are at the foreground of newfound knowledge of how the brain works, how the brain fails, and how information about its functions and failures are addressed, recorded and shared. In Neuroethics: Anticipating the Future, a distinguished group of contributors tackle current critical questions and anticipate the issues on the horizon. What new balances should be struck between diagnosis and prediction, or invasive and non-invasive interventions, given the rapid advances in neuroscience? Are new criteria needed for the clinical definition of death for those eligible for organ donation? What educational, social and medical opportunities will new neuroscience discoveries bring to the children of tomorrow? As data from emerging technologies are made available on public databases, what frameworks will maximize benefits while ensuring privacy of health information? How is the environment shaping humans, and humans shaping the environment? These challenging questions and other future-looking neuroethical concerns are discussed in depth. Written by eminent scholars from diverse disciplines - neurology and neuroscience, ethics, law, public health, and philosophy - this new volume on neuroethics sets out the conditions for active consideration. It is essential reading for the fields of neuroethics, neurosciences and psychology, and an invaluable resource for physicians in neurology and neurosurgery, psychiatry, paediatrics, and rehabilitation medicine, academics in humanities and law, and health policy makers.

The topic of human free will has received more attention in the past several years due to the important discoveries of neuroscience but no consensus of opinion is evident in related disciplines. The traditional approach to understanding free will in philosophy employs conceptual analysis to determine whether humans have freedom of choice. Theology affirms that every person has free choice although God is somehow behind all human decisions. Evolutionary psychology points to human behavior as the product of biological processes and antecedent events. And neuroethics attempts to define what it means to be a thinking moral agent by investigating how neurons in the brain and chemical interactions combine to produce conscious actions. An assessment and evaluation of these various positions is given in light of the evidence. The issue of whether a person can be held morally responsible for their actions hinges on whether those actions originate from free will or are the result of determinism. Theology makes assumptions of the existence of an absolute deity that has a hand in human decision making, but there is no agreement regarding the nature of that intervention. Recent scientific discoveries confront traditionally held religious beliefs and necessitate the creation of a new theology and articles of faith.

A landmark in the scientific literature, the Oxford Handbook of Neuroethics presents a pioneering review of a topic central to the biosciences. It breaks new ground in bringing together leading neuroscientists, philosophers, and lawyers to tackle some of the most significant ethical issues that face us now and will continue to do so.

The Routledge Handbook of Neuroethics offers the reader an informed view of how the brain sciences are being used to approach, understand, and reinvigorate traditional philosophical questions, as well as how those questions, with the grounding influence of neuroscience, are being revisited beyond clinical and research domains. It also examines how contemporary neuroscience research might ultimately impact our understanding of relationships, flourishing, and human nature. Written by 61 key scholars and fresh voices, the Handbook’s easy-to-follow chapters appear here for the first time in print and represent the wide range of viewpoints in neuroethics. The volume spotlights new technologies and historical articulations of key problems, issues, and concepts and includes cross-referencing between chapters to highlight the complex interactions of concepts and ideas within neuroethics. These features enhance the Handbook’s utility by providing readers with a contextual map for different approaches to issues and a guide to further avenues of interest. Chapter 11 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license. https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315708652.ch11

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.

In this volume the authors explore the landscape of thought on the ethical and policy implications of Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology. BCI technology is a promising and rapidly advancing research area. Recent developments in the technology, based on animal and human studies, allow for the restoration and potential augmentation of faculties of perception and physical movement, and even the transfer of information between brains. Brain activity can be interpreted through both invasive and non-invasive monitoring devices, allowing for novel, therapeutic solutions for individuals with disabilities and for other non-medical applications. However, a number of ethical and policy issues have been identified from the use of BCI technology, with the potential for near-future advancements in the technology to raise unique new ethical and policy questions that society has never grappled with before. The volume has three parts: 1) Past, Present and Future of BCI technology, 2) Ethical and Philosophical Issues and 3) Legal and Policy Implications. The rich and detailed picture of the field of BCI ethics with contributors from various fields and backgrounds, from academia and from the commercial sphere may serve as an introductory textbook into the neuroethics of BCI, or as a resource for neuroscientists, engineers, and medical practitioners to gain additional insight into the ethical and policy implications of their work.