No image available for this title
Bookmark Share

Intervention in the brain :politics, policy, and ethics

The political and policy implications of recent developments in neuroscience, including new techniques in imaging and neurogenetics. New findings in neuroscience have given us unprecedented knowledge about the workings of the brain. Innovative research--much of it based on neuroimaging results--suggests not only treatments for neural disorders but also the possibility of increasingly precise and effective ways to predict, modify, and control behavior. In this book, Robert Blank examines the complex ethical and policy issues raised by our new capabilities of intervention in the brain. After surveying current knowledge about the brain and describing a wide range of experimental and clinical interventions--from behavior-modifying drugs to neural implants to virtual reality--Blank discusses the political and philosophical implications of these scientific advances. If human individuality is simply a product of a network of manipulable nerve cell connections, and if aggressive behavior is a treatable biochemical condition, what happens to our conceptions of individual responsibility, autonomy, and free will? In light of new neuroscientific possibilities, Blank considers such topics as informed consent, addiction, criminal justice, racism, commercial and military applications of neuroscience research, new ways to define death, and political ideology and partisanship. Our political and social institutions have not kept pace with the rapid advances in neuroscience. This book shows why the political issues surrounding the application of this new research should be debated before interventions in the brain become routine. --OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

Availability

No copy data

Detail Information
Series Title
-
Call Number
-
Publisher
Cambridge, Mass. : : MIT Press,.,
Collation
1 online resource (370 pages).
Language
English
ISBN/ISSN
0262313731
Classification
-
Content Type
-
Media Type
-
Carrier Type
-
Edition
-
Subject(s)
Neurosciences
Brain.
Specific Detail Info
-
Statement of Responsibility
Other version/related

No other version available

File Attachment
No Data
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment