The ethical relevance of the unconscious Farisco, Michele; Evers, Kathinka
Philosophy, ethics, and humanities in medicine,
12/2017, Letnik:
12, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Ethical analyses of disorders of consciousness traditionally focus on residual awareness. Going one step further, this paper explores the potential ethical relevance of the unawareness retained by ...patients with disorders of consciousness, focusing specifically on the ethical implications of the description of the unconscious provided by recent scientific research.
A conceptual methodology is used, based on the review and analysis of relevant scientific literature on the unconscious and the logical argumentation in favour of the ethical conclusions.
Two conditions (experiential wellbeing and having interests) that are generally considered critical components in the ethical discussion of patients with disorders of consciousness might arguably be both conscious and unconscious.
The unconscious, as well as consciousness, should be taken into account in the ethical discussions of patients with disorders of consciousness.
Neuroscientific imaging evidence (NIE) has become an integral part of the criminal justice system in the United States. However, in most legal cases, NIE is submitted and used only to mitigate ...penalties because the court does not recognize it as substantial evidence, considering its lack of reliability. Nevertheless, we here discuss how neuroscience is expected to improve the use of NIE in the legal system. For this purpose, we classified the efforts of neuroscientists into three research strategies: cognitive subtraction, the data-driven approach, and the brain-manipulation approach. Cognitive subtraction is outdated and problematic; consequently, the court deemed it to be an inadequate approach in terms of legal evidence in 2012. In contrast, the data-driven and brain manipulation approaches, which are state-of-the-art approaches, have overcome the limitations of cognitive subtraction. The data-driven approach brings data science into the field and is benefiting immensely from the development of research platforms that allow automatized collection, analysis, and sharing of data. This broadens the scale of imaging evidence. The brain-manipulation approach uses high-functioning tools that facilitate non-invasive and precise human brain manipulation. These two approaches are expected to have synergistic effects. Neuroscience has strived to improve the evidential reliability of NIE, with considerable success. With the support of cutting-edge technologies, and the progress of these approaches, the evidential status of NIE will be improved and NIE will become an increasingly important part of legal practice.
My porpose, in this paper, is to give a brief exposition of the Hume’s moral theory, and the positivist moral emotivism. I will present some of the strongest objections of both theories, which ...narrowly leave them out of combat. Finally, that the findings that give account of the functioning of the human moral nature, from a neuronal point of view, seem to fit the most basic presuppositions of both theories, without their compatibility being total. For this I will use an example: the murder of a subject and the subsequent statement of witnesses.
Me propongo, en este trabajo, hacer una breve exposición de la teoría moral de Hume y sobre el emotivismo moral positivista. Presentaré algunas de las objeciones más fuertes a dichas teorías, las que por poco las dejan fuera de combate; y, por último, intentaré mostrar que los hallazgos que dan cuenta del Funcionamiento de la naturaleza moral humana, desde un punto de vista neuronal, parecen ajustarse a los presupuestos más básicos de ambas teorías, sin que su compatibilidad sea total. Para ello me valdré de un ejemplo: el asesinato de un sujeto y la posterior declaración de los testigos.
Neuroeconomics and neuroethics are subfields of cognitive neuroscience that address the neural correlates of distinct, although strongly intertwined, facets of decision-making. While neuroeconomics ...investigates the neural mechanisms underlying the maximization of personal economic utility, neuroethics integrates such knowledge with that provided by social neurosciences, in order to address typical questions in ethics and moral philosophy. We review the available research to contrast the hypothesis that both individual economic and socio-moral choices rely on a common brain network receiving domain-specific inputs (Extended Common Currency Schema) and the claim that a specific brain network underpins choices in a socio-moral context (Social-Valutation-Specific Schema). In line with the former model, currently available evidence supports the existence of a single brain network associated with both choice types, regardless of the economic individual vs. socio-moral decisional context.
Critical reflection on the available neuropsychological evidence suggests that the roles of emotion and reason in moral judgment may not be distinct. This casts significant doubt on our current ...understanding of moral judgment, and therefore also on all philosophical theories based on that understanding. Most notably, it raises doubts about both sentimentalism and rationalism, which historically have often been treated as exclusive and exhaustive theories regarding the nature of moral concepts. As an alternative, I endorse pluralism with regard to the emotional and rational nature of moral concepts.
Over the last decade, academics and companies have shown an increased interest in brain studies and human cerebral functions related to consumer’s reactions to different stimuli. Therefore ...neuroethics emerged as a way to draw attention to ethical issues concerning different aspects of brain research. This review explores the environment of neuromarketing research in both business and academic areas from an ethical point of view. The paper focuses on the ethical issues involving subjects participating in neuroimaging studies, consumers that experience the effects of research results and also researchers that conduct such studies. Starting the analysis from the gaps in traditional marketing research, the paper provides information on ethics of neuromarketing research and its challenges and offers perspectives concerning the standards that should be implemented in order to allow the development of both neuroethics and neuromarketing under appropriate conditions.
With rapid growth in the development of consumer neurotechnology, it is imperative to consider the ethical implications that this might have in order to minimise consumer harm. Whilst ethical and ...legal guidelines for commercialisation have previously been suggested, we aimed to further this discussion by investigating the ethical concerns held by potential end users of consumer neurotechnology. 19 participants who had previously experienced mental workload tracking in their daily lives were interviewed about their ethical concerns and perceptions of this type of future neurotechnology. An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach identified three superordinate themes. These related to concerns surrounding privacy, data validity and misinterpretation, and personal identity. The findings provide further validation for previous research and highlight further ethical considerations that should be factored into the commercialisation of neurotechnology.
Vulnerability is an important criterion to assess the ethical justification of the inclusion of participants in research trials. Currently, vulnerability is often understood as an attribute inherent ...to a participant by nature of a diagnosed condition. Accordingly, a common ethical concern relates to the participant's decisionmaking capacity and ability to provide free and informed consent. We propose an expanded view of vulnerability that moves beyond a focus on consent and the intrinsic attributes of participants. We offer specific suggestions for how relational aspects and the dynamic features of vulnerability could be more fully captured in current discussions and research practices.
Fueling Hope: Stem Cells in Social Media Robillard, Julie M.; Cabral, Emanuel; Hennessey, Craig ...
Stem cell reviews,
08/2015, Letnik:
11, Številka:
4
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Social media is broadening opportunities to engage in discussions about biomedical advances such as stem cell research. However, little is known about how information pertaining to stem cells is ...disseminated on platforms such as Twitter. To fill this gap, we conducted a content analysis of tweets containing (i) a stem cell keyword, and (ii) a keyword related to either spinal cord injury (SCI) or Parkinson disease (PD). We found that the discussion about stem cells and SCI or PD revolves around different aspects of the research process. We also found that the tone of most tweets about stem cells is either positive or neutral. The findings contribute new knowledge about Twitter as a connecting platform for many voices and as a key tool for the dissemination of information about stem cells and disorders of the central nervous system.
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