BIH611: Neuroethics

The module Neuroethics is an elective module common to both concentrations and concerns a very vibrant research field addressing issues with consequences of an unprecedented intensity and scope for society and for the ontology of human existence. These are, specifically, issues raised by developments in the field of Neuroscience and the various technological applications of the latter. The intensity and scope of these issues is due to the particular relationship that the brain has with concepts fundamental to the human being, such as thought, free will, responsibility and the very concept of the person. Our neuro-technological capacity to observe and intervene in brain functions, as well as to connect the brain with machines or to construct synthetic brains, constitutes correspondingly a capacity for intervening in the content of the aforementioned concepts, or even for their complete negation. The anticipated expansion of neuro-technology into almost every aspect of our lives may transform the structure of society and the functioning of its various institutions, simultaneously raising a series of crucial ethical, legal and political questions. In response to these issues, a heterogeneous group of researchers and thinkers from various fields of science and human thought - including Neuroscience, Philosophy (primarily Moral Philosophy and Philosophy of Mind), Medicine (primarily Psychiatry and Neurology), Psychology, Law and Political Science, Artificial Intelligence and Sociobiology - join forces, constituting a very dynamic interdisciplinary programme of both theoretical and thoroughly applied character: the programme of Neuroethics.