Neuroethics: Challenges For The 21st Century

Neuroethics: Challenges for the 21st Century

Neuroscience has dramatically increased understanding of how mental states and processes are realized by the brain, thus opening doors for treating the multitude of ways in which minds become dysfunctional. This book explores questions such as when is it permissible to alter a person's memories, influence personality traits or read minds? What can neuroscience tell us about free will, self-control, self-deception and the foundations of morality? The view of neuroethics offered here argues that many of our new powers to read ,alter and control minds are not entirely unparalleled with older ones. They have, however, expanded to include almost all our social, political and ethical decisions. Written primarily for graduate students, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in the more philosophical and ethical aspects of the neurosciences. Review "Levy's book works well in establishing neuroethics as being worthy of careful philosophical discussion, with deep and interesting problems that can have major social implications. ...augers well for the philosophical side of this new field of study, and it should help to ensure that the work done in this area is philosophically rich." - Christian Perring, Metapsychology online reviews"Neuroethics - Challenges for the 21st Century is definitely a worthwhile read." Perry Mill, Provincial Health Ethics Network Book Description An ethical and philosophical examination of our understanding of human powers and nature. About the Author Neil Levy is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics, University of Melbourne, Australia, and a Research Fellow at the Program on the Ethics of the New Biosciences, Oxford. He has published more than fifty articles in refereed journals, as well as four books previous to this one.