Neuroethics

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Wearable Technologies ◽  
Definition Of Death ◽  
Populations At Risk ◽  
The Future ◽  
Aging Adults ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Brain ◽  
New Criteria

We have new answers to how the brain works and tools which can now monitor and manipulate brain function. Rapid advances in neuroscience raise critical questions with which society must grapple. What new balances must be struck between diagnosis and prediction, and invasive and noninvasive interventions? Are new criteria needed for the clinical definition of death in cases where individuals are eligible for organ donation? How will new mobile and wearable technologies affect the future of growing children and aging adults? To what extent is society responsible for protecting populations at risk from environmental neurotoxins? As data from emerging technologies converge and are made available on public databases, what frameworks and policies will maximize benefits while ensuring privacy of health information? And how can people and communities with different values and perspectives be maximally engaged in these important questions? Neuroethics: Anticipating the Future is written by scholars from diverse disciplines—neurology and neuroscience, ethics and law, public health, sociology, and philosophy. With its forward-looking insights and considerations for the future, the book examines the most pressing current ethical issues.

scholarly journals Unpacking Robert Spaemann’s Philosophical Contribution to the Brain Death Debate

2019 ◽  
Vol 86 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-393
Author(s):  
Elinor Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Brain Death ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Definition Of Death ◽  
Ordinary Person ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Philosophical Contribution ◽  
Sole Criterion ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Philosophical Questions ◽  
Living Being

Questions of life and death are primarily philosophical questions, as philosopher Robert Spaemann argues. Spaemann argues that “brain death” is philosophically unsatisfactory as a definition of death, and as the exclusive criterion for determining death, for two main reasons: first, because it attempts to annul the basic perceptions of the ordinary person in regard to death. Second, because the cause of life and unity in a living being cannot be reduced to the brain. This essay is an explication of Spaemann’s contribution to the “brain death” question, which consists in illuminating the philosophical issues at stake. Summary: This article presents Robert Spaemann’s philosophical case that “brain death” suffices neither as a definition of death nor as the sole criterion of death.

Is the Human Brain Unique?

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Gorman
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Brain Diseases ◽  
Expression Of Genes ◽  
The Future ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
The Brain

Some scientists now argue that humans are really not superior to other species, including our nearest genetic neighbors, chimpanzees and bonobos. Indeed, those animals seem capable of many things previously thought to be uniquely human, including a sense of the future, empathy, depression, and theory of mind. However, it is clear that humans alone produce speech, dominate the globe, and have several brain diseases like schizophrenia. There are three possible sources within the brain for these differences in brain function: in the structure of the brain, in genes coding for proteins in the brain, and in the level of expression of genes in the brain. There is evidence that all three are the case, giving us a place to look for the intersection of the human mind and brain: the expression of genes within neurons of the prefrontal cortex.

Anencephalic Infants as Organ Donors

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-256
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R. Botkin
Keyword(s):  
Pediatric Patients ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Organ Donors ◽  
Definition Of Death ◽  
Stage Disease ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
End Stage

Transplantation technology has been refined in recent years and now offers hope to pediatric patients with a variety of end stage disease processes. The lack of available donors for the smallest potential organ recipients has led to the suggestion that anencephalic infants be used as organ donors. This suggested policy is contrary to current law and raises fundamental ethical issues relating to the definition of death and the treatment of the dying. The technical issues in the potential organ supply from this source are described and the opposing ethical positions developing in this debate are discussed.

Diagnosing Death

2020 ◽  
pp. 137-160
Author(s):  
Dale Gardiner ◽  
Andrew McGee
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Intensive Care ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Clinical Characteristics ◽  
Circulatory Arrest ◽  
Definition Of Death ◽  
Permanent Loss ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Brain

It was not always doctors who diagnosed death. Advances in resuscitation and fears of premature burial led to doctors having a duty to diagnose death in a safe and timely way. The birth of intensive care in the twentieth century demonstrated that it was possible for the heart to keep beating even after the brain had permanently ceased functioning. A worldwide, unifying, brain-based definition of death could be termed ‘permanent brain arrest’. The clinical characteristics of permanent brain arrest would be the permanent loss of capacity for consciousness and loss of all brainstem functions (including the capacity to breathe), which might arise from primary brain injury or secondary to circulatory arrest. Three sets of criteria are used by doctors to diagnose death, depending on the clinical circumstances: forensic, circulatory, and neurological. All three sets of criteria point to the same brain-based definition of death. While there is widespread consensus for these standards—in practice and in law—they are not without criticism.

scholarly journals The Future of Social Work Practice in Addictions

10.18060/91 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 202-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana M. DiNitto
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Treatment Services ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Brain

Few social workers specialize in addictions practice. That number may grow in the years ahead due to demographic changes in the population, an expanding definition of addiction, and other factors. Social workers in all areas of practice see clients with addictions and their family members, but there is a large gap in the numbers who need treatment and receive it. The social work workforce of the future must be better equipped to develop and identify prevention and treatment services that are both appealing to clients and effective. These services may need to be offered in other setting where clients are seen. There is also much work to be done in the years ahead in the political environment to make treatment available and to see that individuals with addictions are treated fairly. Substantial research is being conducted on genetics and the brain chemistry of addiction. Psychosocial factors are also believed to play a substantial role in the development of addictions, thus ensuring social workers place in the addictions field in the years ahead.

Pushing Near-Death Experiences (II)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Schlieter
Keyword(s):  
Brain Death ◽  
Heart Attacks ◽  
Definition Of Death ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Death Experiences ◽  
Push Factor ◽  
The Brain

A second “push factor” for the increase of near-death experiences (and their reporting), emerging in the 1960s and 1970s, is the introduction of new reanimation techniques that increased the relative and absolute numbers of individuals surviving critical situations (such as heart attacks). In addition, the chapter discusses the impact of the broadly accepted new definition of death, namely, death as “irreversible coma.” This chapter demonstrates the impact of both, the innovation of reanimation measures and the brain-death discourse, on near-death experiences and near-death discourse—visible in the publications of Moody, who, for example, remained skeptical toward the definition of brain death.

Dynamics of the brain — from the statistical properties of neural signals to the development of representations

1996 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-307
Author(s):  
Andrew Oliver
Keyword(s):  
Brain Function ◽  
Statistical Properties ◽  
Developmental Perspective ◽  
Neural Signals ◽  
Macroscopic Models ◽  
Important Constraint ◽  
Functional Measures ◽  
Target Article ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe unification of microscopic and macroscopic models of brain behaviour is of paramount importance and Wright & Liley's target article provides some important groundwork. In this commentary, I propose that a useful approach for the future is to incorporate a developmental perspective into such models. This may be an important constraint, providing a key to understanding the nature of macroscopic measures of brain function such as functional measures like ERP.

The Whole-Brain Concept of Death Remains Optimum Public Policy

2006 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
James L. Bernat
Keyword(s):  
Brain Injuries ◽  
Positive Pressure ◽  
Mechanical Ventilators ◽  
Definition Of Death ◽  
Vital Functions ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Defining Death

The definition of death is one of the oldest and most enduring problems in biophilosophy and bioethics. Serious controversies over formally defining death began with the invention of the positive-pressure mechanical ventilator in the 1950s. For the first time, physicians could maintain ventilation and, hence, circulation on patients who had sustained what had been previously lethal brain damage. Prior to the development of mechanical ventilators, brain injuries severe enough to induce apnea quickly progressed to cardiac arrest from hypoxemia. Before the 1950s, the loss of spontaneous breathing and heartbeat (“vital functions”) were perfect predictors of death because the functioning of the brain and of all other organs ceased rapidly and nearly simultaneously thereafter, producing a unitary death phenomenon. In the pretechnological era, physicians and philosophers did not have to consider whether a human being who had lost certain “vital functions” but had retained others was alive, because such cases were technically impossible.

scholarly journals Review of Intervention in the Brain: Politics, Ethics, and Policy by Robert H. Blank

2016 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-94
Author(s):  
Evan Charney
Keyword(s):  
Deep Brain Stimulation ◽  
Brain Stimulation ◽  
Moral Behavior ◽  
Definition Of Death ◽  
Military Applications ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Deep Brain

Politics, Policy, and Ethics contains informative chapters on the history of psychiatric “brain intervention” from lobotomies to deep brain stimulation; how advances in neuroscience have impacted the definition of death; and the commercial and military applications of new neuroscience technologies. The bulk of the book, however, is devoted to making the argument that advances in neuroscience have significantly advanced our understanding of social, political, and moral behavior. 

scholarly journals Axiological contradictions of the modern Russian Society and their impact upon professional culture of the future lawyer

2021 ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Nikita Andreevich Shtukarev ◽  
Yurii Shlemovich Strelets
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Professional Culture ◽  
Professional Activity ◽  
Russian Society ◽  
Original Definition ◽  
The Future ◽  
Solid Foundation ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Modern Russian

Modern Russian society is currently on the verge of shifting from the traditional (pre-modern) and new (modern) value system, and is characterized by intermediateness and transitivity. In this context, the identity becomes unstable, marginal, without a solid foundation of values. This actualizes the problem of determination of axiological contradictions of the modern Russian society and the degree of their impact upon the cultural institutions formed in accordance with the professional criteria, namely professional culture of the future lawyer. The goal of this article is to establish  axiological contradictions of the modern Russian society and determine the degree of their impact upon professional culture of the future lawyer. Methodological framework is comprised of culturological and axiological approaches. Analysis is conducted on the key development trends of the modern Russian society, which explicates the value contradictions of the Russian society at the present stage. The author provides the original definition of professional culture of the lawyer, reveals the conceptual components of professional culture, as well as the depth and degree of impact of the existing axiological contradictions upon the value core of professional culture of the future lawyer. It is noted that the revealed axiological contradictions of the modern Russian society aggravate the ethical issues of professional culture of the future lawyer. In this regard, the author offers the measures of social support for the future lawyers aimed at minimization of ethical contradictions in professional activity.

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