Neuroethics

This course will examine the ethical, legal and social issues raised by neuroscience. Topics will include the implications of new knowledge of the brain for our understanding of selfhood, for the meaning of privacy, for the distinction between therapy and enhancement, and for national security.

About the Course

My course on Neuroethics originally scheduled for this spring has been postponed until September. I recognize that this will be an inconvenience for some and for that I apologize, but teaching an online course is a new experience for me, as taking one is for many of you, and as I've been preparing the sessions I have discovered that there is some fine-tuning to be done. Since I don't want to compromise on quality I hope you will all understand and bear with me. -- Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D.
“Perhaps a man really dies when his brain stops, when he loses the power to take in a new idea.” --George Orwell

Neuroethics might well be the most rapidly growing area within bioethics; indeed, in some respects neuroethics has grown as an independent field, with its own journals, professional society and institutional centers. This growth over the past decade is partly attributable to the growth of neuroscience itself and to the challenging philosophical and moral questions it inherently raises. A 2012 Royal Society report observes that “(a)n increasingly mechanistic understanding of the brain raises a host of ethical, legal, and social implications. This has laid the foundation for the emergent field of Neuroethics, which examines ethical issues governing the conceptual and practical developments of neuroscience. Irrespective of their validity, even the claims that modern neuroscience entails the re-examination of complex and sensitive topics like free will, consciousness, identity, and responsibility raises significant ethical issues. As such, neuroethics asks questions that extend beyond the usual umbrella of biomedical ethics.” This course will, therefore, consider the new knowledge and ways of learning about the brain from scientific and ethico-legal and social standpoints. We will examine the core themes of neuroethics, including cognitive enhancement, the nature of the self and personhood, neuroimaging and privacy, and the ways that all these themes are brought together in matters affecting national security.

About the Instructor(s)

Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D. is the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor of Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is also Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, of History and Sociology of Science, and of Philosophy. Moreno is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC, where he edits the magazine Science Progress (www.scienceprogress.org). His most recent book, The Body Politic: The Battle Over Science in America, was named a “Best Book” of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews. He is also the author of Mind Wars: Brain Research and the Military in the 21st Century. The American Journal of Bioethics has called him “the most interesting bioethicist of our time.”

Moreno is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and is a National Associate of the National Research Council. He has served as a member of President Barack Obama’s transition team, has been a senior staff member for three presidential advisory commissions and has given invited testimony for both houses of congress. Nominated by the U.S. government, Moreno is a member of the UNESCO International Bioethics Commission. He was an Andrew W. Mellon post-doctoral fellow, holds an honorary doctorate from Hofstra University, and is a recipient of the Benjamin Rush Medal from the College of William and Mary Law School and the Dr. Jean Mayer Award for Global Citizenship from Tufts University. Moreno is a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post, Psychology Today, and other major media.

Moreno has served as an adviser to many non-governmental organizations, including the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Bioethics Advisory Board for Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative, Beijing, China. He is a member of the Governing Board of the International Neuroethics Society, and is a Faculty Affiliate of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, a Fellow of the Hastings Center, and a past president of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. He advises various science, health, and national security agencies.

FAQ

• Will I get a Statement of Accomplishment after completing this class?

Yes. Students who successfully complete the class will receive a Statement of Accomplishment signed by the instructor.

• Who Should Take this Course? 

Anyone with an interest in the ethical, legal and social implications of neuroscience should take this course. No background in philosophy, ethics, or neuroscience is presupposed.

Provided by:

University: University of Pennsylvania

Instructor(s): Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D.