A principled and cosmopolitan neuroethics: considerations for international relevance

Abstract

Neuroethics applies cognitive neuroscience for prescribing alterations to conceptions of self and society, and for prescriptively judging the ethical applications of neurotechnologies. Plentiful normative premises are available to ground such prescriptivity, however prescriptive neuroethics may remain fragmented by social conventions, cultural ideologies, and ethical theories. Herein we offer that an objectively principled neuroethics for international relevance requires a new meta-ethics: understanding how morality works, and how humans manage and improve morality, as objectively based on the brain and social sciences. This new meta-ethics will simultaneously equip neuroethics for evaluating and revising older cultural ideologies and ethical theories, and direct neuroethics towards scientifically valid views of encultured humans intelligently managing moralities. Bypassing absolutism, cultural essentialisms, and unrealistic ethical philosophies, neuroethics arrives at a small set of principles about proper human flourishing that are more culturally inclusive and cosmopolitan in spirit. This cosmopolitanism in turn suggests augmentations to traditional medical ethics in the form of four principled guidelines for international consideration: empowerment, non-obsolescence, self-creativity, and citizenship.

Global Mental Health and Neuroethics

“…The need for empirically defined and articulated research is equally crucial to neuroethics. A key pillar of the field is a naturalistic view that posits that advances in neuroscience may well shed light on philosophical issues [16][17][18]. For example, the field has emphasised the importance of neuroscientific approaches to examining fundamental questions about the nature of the self, agency and responsibility, noting how novel findings about the neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and neurogenetics of decision-making and impulse control influence current understanding of these constructs.…”

“…There is ongoing neuroethical discussion about whether the introduction of new neurotechnologies for the assessment and treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders should also be used in those with sub-threshold symptoms, or to exceed ordinary capacities [25]. While part of the neuroethical focus is to ensure that novel technologies are appropriately developed and correctly used, another part reflects a commitment to employing such technologies in ways that maximise the potential (and relative) benefit for individuals and for societies [17].…”

Global mental health and neuroethics

“…While part of the neuroethical focus is to ensure that novel technologies are appropriately developed and correctly used, another part reflects a commitment to employing such technologies in ways that maximise the potential (and relative) benefit for individuals and for societies [17]. …”

Ethics Transplants? Addressing the Risks and Benefits of Guiding International Biomedicine

“…Nuanced neuroethical evaluations can develop practical guidelines by asking contextual questions first and delivering recommendations second (Shook and Giordano 2014). This approach would not retard progress; it would be a positive resource to enable the highest quality professional conduct and scientific credibility.…”