Neuroethics

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Neuroethics: Mind, Brain, and Moral Life Our brains control our thoughts, actions, emotions, and memories. Advances in neuroscience give us knowledge about, and insights into, the inner workings of the brain as well as possible methods of preventing, treating, or mitigating the often-devastating brain diseases and injuries that affect large numbers of people across the lifespan and the globe. This course will examine ethical, legal, and social questions that arise from advances in neuroscience and our growing capacity to observe, predict, and alter or manipulate human brain function. Situated at the intersection of philosophy, neuroscience, clinical care, and law, students will examine some of the profound ethical questions raised by rapid progress in neuroscience and neurotechnology. The course will engage certain foundational questions, including the mind-body problem, consciousness, personal identity, and the basis of free will, as well as challenges of contemporary neuroscience, its conduct, applications, and implications. Topics will include how neuroscientific evidence might inform ethical reasoning, the ethical dimensions of brain imaging and mental privacy, the ethics of cognitive enhancement through medications and neurostimulation, the use of neural data in courtrooms and classrooms, disorders of consciousness, brain-computer interfaces and emerging technologies, the moral status of brain organoids, ethical dimensions of psychiatric intervention, and more. The course will use foundational texts in moral philosophy alongside cutting-edge empirical neuroscience research and case studies drawn from medicine, law, and public policy. Students will develop skills in ethical reasoning, critical reading of scientific literature, and develop their skill in constructing well-supported arguments on contested issues.