Neuroethics: Bioetical Issues in Cognitive Neuroscience

This is a Freshman Seminar

"Neuroethics" is the new name of a new field, at the intersection of bioethics and neuroscience.  In this seminar we will explore the issues that arise at this interface.  These include the social and moral implications of new developments in psychopharmacology, brain-machine interfaces and psychosurgery (ways of manipulating the brain and mind) and of new developments in functional neuroimaging (ways of monitoring the mind and brain).  Our class has two goals: To educate you about some of these ethically loaded scientific developments and to help you formulate a view of whether and when such work should proceed, through reading and discussion of relevant literature in bioethics and history/sociology of science.