As noted in Volume 1, the Yearbook series alternates between a biennial volume tracing recent theological discussions on topics in bioethics and a biennial volume tracing recent regional discussions in bioethics. Volume 2 provides for the first time a comprehensive single-volume summary of recent international and regional developments on specific topics in bioethics. To give uniformity to the discussions all authors were asked to report on the following topics: new reproductive technologies, abortion, maternal-fetal conflicts, case of severely disabled newborns, consent of treatment and experimentation, confidentiality, equitable access to health care, ethical concerns raised by cost-containment measures, decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment, active euthanasia, the definition of death, organ donation and transplantation. The internationally respected contributors report on the following 16 areas: the United States, Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Germany/Austria/Switzerland, Eastern Europe, Spain/Portugal/Italy/Scandinavia, India, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Australia/New Zealand, Council of Europe/EEC. The commentators draw on three sets of resources: Statutes, legislative proposals, and regulatory changes that directly influence, or have implications for, areas of bioethical concern; Case law and court judgments that shape, either decisively or suggestively, recent legal interpretations of particular issues of areas in bioethics; Formal statements of governmentally appointed commissions, advisory bodies, and representative professional groups, as well as less formal statements and recommendations of other organisations. In addition to providing timely summaries of recent developments, the volume offers rich and useful bibliographical references to a wide array of documents, many of which would be difficult for readers to learn about, given the lack of centralized international collection of such documents. The Yearbook should be widely consulted by all bioethicists, public policy analysts, lawyers and theologians.

Advaita Vedanta is one of the best-known schools of Indian philosophy, but much of its history-a history closely interwoven with that of medieval and modern Hinduism-remains surprisingly unexplored. This book focuses on a single remarkable work and its place within that history: The Ocean of Inquiry, a vernacular compendium of Advaita Vedanta by the North Indian monk Niscaldas (ca. 1791 - 1863). Though not well known today, Niscaldas's work was once referred to by Vivekananda (himself a key figure in the shaping of modern Hinduism) as the most influential book in India. The present book situates The Ocean of Inquiry as representative of both a neglected genre (vernacular Vedanta) and a neglected period (ca. 17th-19th centuries) in the history of Indian philosophy. It argues that the rise of Advaita Vedanta to a position of prestige began well before the period of British rule in India, and that vernacular texts like The Ocean of Inquiry played an important role in popularizing Vedantic teachings. It also offers a new appraisal of the period of late Advaita Vedanta, arguing that it should not be seen as one of barren scholasticism. For thinkers like Niscaldas, intellectual "inquiry" (vicara) was not an academic exercise but a spiritual practice-indeed, it was the central practice on the path to liberation. The book concludes by arguing that without understanding both vernacular Vedanta and the scholasticism of the period, one cannot fully understand the emergence of modern Hinduism.

The editors of the Philosophy and Medicine series recognize with grat itude the foresight, understanding, hard labor, and patience of Prof. Kazumasa Hoshino. It is his perseverance that has made this volume a reality. It was his faith in ideas that brought together a cluster of scholars in Tokyo on September 2-4, 1994, at Sophia University for a U. S. -J apan Bioethics Congress. With the support of the Foundation for Advance ment of International Science, the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership, the Foundation of Thanatology, the Japanese Center for Quality of Life Studies, and Sophia University, scholars from Canada, Germany, Japan, and the United States were able to explore the differ ences and similarities in their approaches to bioethics and health care policy. That conference first produced a volume through Shibunkaku Publishers of Kyoto that appeared in 1995 in J apanese: The Dignity of Death, edited by Kazumasa Hoshino. Selections from those materials have been reworked for an English audience and now appear, along with new essays, in this volume. The field of comparative bioethics is only in its infancy. We are deeply grateful to Prof. Kazumasa Hoshino, one of the fathers of J apanese bioethics, for having made this volume possible. H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. Stuart F. Spicker Vll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This volume's editors and Kluwer Academic Publishers wish to thank Shibunkaku Press, Kyoto, Japan, for permission to publish, without charge, essays derived from the U. S."

How is it that, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is still possible for males and females to be denied their inherent right to keep all the body parts with which they were born?

Circumcision is a cultural phenomenon that affects 15.3 million children and young adults annually. In terms of gender, 13.3 millions boys and 2 million girls are subjected to the involuntary removal of part or all of their external sex organs every year. Few people, however, ask why such practices persist or how modern societies can tolerate this inherent violation of human rights. The problem of female circumcision is being addressed on an international level, while male circumcision remains a subject many academics are reluctant to fully or impartially examine. This book explores the problem of male and female circumcision in modern society from religious, anthropological, psychological, medical, legal, and ethical perspectives.

Bodily Integrity and the Politics of Circumcision: Culture, Controversy, and Change illuminates the vulnerability of human society to medical, economic, and historical pressures. It provides a much-needed, thoughtful, and detailed analysis of the devastating impact of circumcision on bodily integrity and human rights, and it provides hope for change.

There is growing recognition of the value dimension in psychiatric practice, from the contributions of positive psychology, of documenting the role of virtues in human flourishing and in the medical practice. However, the place of virtues in psychiatric treatment remains largely unexplored. How does a need for virtues fit into the processes of diagnosis, formulation, and treatment? What patient problems and factors should influence the therapist to promote forgiveness, gratitude, humility, or accountability? What is the relationship between the therapist's and the patient's virtues? What is the relevance of religious or spiritual resources to the formation of virtue? How does the cultivation of a particular virtue relate to psychodynamic, behavioral, existential, or spiritual approaches? What ethical questions does it raise, and what are its implications for psychiatric education? The Virtues in Psychiatric Practice explores the role of the virtues in promoting human flourishing within the context of psychiatric practice. Chapters uses case examples to consider the incentives of fostering particular virtues; the place of this approach among psychodynamic, behavioral, existential, or spiritual approaches; and the relationship between the therapist's and the patient's values. Virtues highlighted include forgiveness, gratitude, accountability, self-transcendence, defiance, humility, compassion, love, and practical wisdom. This discussion is organized according to four basic capacities relevant to moral enhancement - self-control, niceness, intelligence, and positivity - which correspond to the four cardinal virtues according to Plato and Aquinas - temperance, justice, prudence, and courage. Edited by psychiatrist and scholar John R. Peteet and written for psychiatrists, psychologists, and medical ethicists, this book will connect recent scientific research on virtue with clinical practice. It therefore aims to give readers a fuller appreciation of the importance of virtue in the therapeutic encounter, a clearer understanding of clinical indications for focusing on particular virtues, and enhanced practical ways of promoting human growth.

For the first time, based on an extensive survey conducted across the whole of Europe by the Association Descartes, the details of over 1,000 persons and organisations are now available. The Directory is broken down into 14 sections : the first section is devoted to European institutions; the next twelve cover each EEC country and list the names of persons and organisations involved in bioethics; a complementary listing covers indispensable persons or organisations; A reference work both for researchers and anybody concerned with bioethics.

Mental illness is an issue of great practical importance. Yet, despite sustained inquiry from scientists and philosophers alike, relatively little attention has been paid to the significance of mental disorder to agency and responsibility. While there is some work that touches on the topic, and a few extended treatments of particular disorders, these only scratch the surface. Agency in Mental Disorder seeks to provide a starting point for deeper and broader philosophical analyses. The 8 new essays in this book address various questions about the relationship between agency and mental disorder. What is the nature of that relationship? In what ways do mental disorders affect capacities for control? How should we understand the mitigations of blame that mental disorders seem to provide, and can we generalize from specific disorders to any interesting claims about disorders as a class? And what makes for a mental disorder in the first place?

Medical uncertainty has been with us for centuries and remains a recurrent problem for patients, doctors, and researchers alike. Yet uncertainty in health care is still poorly understood and ineffectively managed; it is generally feared and avoided rather than directly confronted. This systemic disregard of uncertainty leads us to treat medical uncertainty as a pathological condition to be cured through the pursuit of knowledge, but often further medical knowledge begets further uncertainty in kind. Uncertainty in Medicine offers an alternative, multi-disciplinary perspective on this challenging problem. Integrating insights across clinical medicine and social science, Dr. Paul Han argues that uncertainty is an essential form of knowledge to be cultivated, rather than eradicated, in medical practice. He makes the case that the paradigm of medicine should be expanded to include not only the pursuit of medical knowledge but the treatment and palliation of medical uncertainty and its effects on physicians, other health professionals, and patients. Using clear language and a textbook approach, he analyzes the nature, etiology, and natural history of medical uncertainty, and develops a conceptual framework to guide its management. By promoting a more systematic way of conceptualizing the problem, this framework can enable clinicians and patients to better address medical uncertainty, and can help make uncertainty tolerance a more central focus of medical care. Rational and reassuring, Uncertainty in Medicine forges a new path for approaching medical uncertainty by arming readers from an array of disciplines with the tools they need to diagnose, treat, and confront its challenges more intentionally and effectively.

Neural prosthetics are systems or devices implanted in or connected to the brain that influence the input and output of information. They modulate, bypass, supplement, or replace regions of the brain and its connections to parts of the body that are damaged, dysfunctional, or lost, whether from congenital conditions, brain injury, limb loss, or neurodegenerative disease. Neural prosthetics can restore sensory, motor, and cognitive functions in people with these conditions and enable them to regain functional independence and improve their quality of life. This book explores the neuroscientific and philosophical implications of neural prosthetics. Neuroscientific discussion focuses on how neural prosthetics can restore brain and bodily functions to varying degrees, looking at auditory and visual prosthetics, deep brain and responsive neurostimulation, brain-computer interfaces, brain-to-brain interfaces, and memory prosthetics. Philosophical discussion then considers the degree to which people with these prosthetics can benefit from or be harmed by them. Finally, it explores how these devices and systems can lead to a better understanding of the brain-mind relation, mental causation, and agency. This is an essential volume for anyone invested in the current and future directions of neural prosthetics, including neuroscientists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, neural engineers, psychologists, and psychiatrists, as well as philosophers, bioethicists, and legal theorists.

This book addresses the many ethical issues and extraordinary risks that nurses and others are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic, which creates physical, emotional, and economic burdens, affecting nurses' overall health and well-being. Nurses are essential front-line clinicians across all health care settings and in every nation. The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel SARs-CoV-2 virus has affected children, adults, and communities within and across all societies. Nurses, too, have contracted the virus and died from the disease. They have also seen their colleagues, family members, and friends hospitalized or in intensive care units struggling to survive. Nursing's professionalism and disciplinary resolve to care for patients and families amidst confusion, misinformation, and shifting guidelines has been called "heroic" by the public. How much risk should nurses be expected to accept during a pandemic? How do nurses help patients and families find comfort and dignity at the end-of-life? How do we help nurses who are suffering from moral distress and mental health concerns from what they have seen, been asked to do, or are unable to provide? And, how does society move forward from a pandemic that has challenged our basic ethical principles of justice and what is "fair, good and right" in caring for those who need care, including the most vulnerable and nurses themselves? This book addresses these and other ethical concerns that nurses are facing in their day-to-day clinical practice; experiences shared with patients, families, and colleagues. Although this book was written while the pandemic was still raging across the United States and globally, the events needed to be told as they were unfolding. This book helps us to learn from both the successes and failures that are affecting so many across the globe, including those on whom the public relies on to provide quality, compassionate, and expert care when they are sick: nurses.

In 2018 the first genetically modified babies were reportedly born in China, made possible by the invention of CRISPR technology in 2012. This controversial advancement overturned the pre-existing moral consensus, which had held for over fifty years before: while gene editing an adult person was morally acceptable, modifying babies, and thus subsequent generations, crossed a significant moral line. If this line is passed over, scientists will be left without an agreed-upon ethical limit. What do we do now? John H. Evans here provides a meta-level guide to how these debates move forward and their significance to society. He explains how the bioethical debate has long been characterized as a slippery slope, with consensually ethical use at the top, nightmarish dystopia at the bottom, and specific agreed-upon limits in between, which draw the lines between the ethical and the unethical. Evans frames his analysis around these limits, or barriers. Historically they have existed to guide scientists and to prevent the debate from slipping down the metaphorical slope into unacceptable eugenicist possibilities, such as in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World or the movie Gattaca. Evans examines the history of how barriers were placed, then fell, then replaced by new ones, and discusses how these insights inform where the debate may head. He evaluates other proposed barriers relevant to where we are now, projects that most of the barriers suggested by scientists and bioethicists will not hold, and cautiously identifies a few that could serve as the moral boundary for the next generation. At a critical time in this new era of intervention in the human genome, The Human Gene Editing Debate provides a necessary, comprehensive analysis of the conversation's direction, past, present, and future.

In "Life in the Balance," Niles Eldredge argues that the Earth is confronting a disaster in the making--an ecological crisis that, if left unresolved, could ultimately lead to mass extinction on the scale of that which killed the dinosaurs sixty-five million years ago. Writing for general readers, he reviews compelling evidence for this "biodiversity crisis," showing that species are dying out at an unnaturally rapid rate. He demonstrates the importance of maintaining biodiversity, taking the reader on a journey that reveals the twin faces of biodiversity--over thirteen million living species "and" the ecosystems through which these species transform the sun's energy into life-sustaining matter. Throughout, Eldredge shows how our own fate is intricately linked with that of other species.

Eldredge, one of the world's foremost paleontologists, begins by taking us to the heart of Botswana's Okavango Delta, considered by many to be among the last "Edens" left on Earth--a place where a rich assortment of organisms exist in natural equilibrium. However, it is also a place where the results of human activity--pollution, clear-cutting, water-diversion, encroaching agriculture, disease--now pose the same ecological threats that, on a worldwide scale, put the entire planet at risk. Eldredge then leads us on a fascinating exploration of the Earth's organisms--animals, plants, fungi, the microbes that underpin all life--and of the diverse ecosystems from the tundra to the tropics in which these organisms live. It is a journey that demonstrates the inherent value of the millions of species and ecosystems on Earth, and the importance of biodiversity to the entire biosphere and to humans' continued existence.

Eldredge concludes that humans not only are responsible for the biodiversity crisis but also hold the key to preventing an impending Sixth Extinction. He argues that we must, among other strategies, pledge ourselves to sustainable development and the conservation of wild places. An eloquent and passionate account by one of today's leading scientists, "Life in the Balance" will draw new attention to one of the most pressing problems now facing the world. In this book, Eldredge explores the same themes that illuminate The American Museum of Natural History's new Hall of Biodiversity, for which he is Scientific Curator. The Hall is scheduled to open in spring 1998.

The use of the criminal law to punish those who transmit disease is a topical and controversial issue. To date, the law, and the related academic literature, has largely focused on HIV transmission. With contributions from leading practitioners and international scholars from a variety of disciplines, this volume explores the broader question of if and when it is appropriate to criminalise the transmission of contagion. The scope and application of the laws in jurisdictions such as Canada, the United Kingdom and Norway are considered, historical comparisons are examined, and options for the further development of the law are proposed.

This book offers a new theory of property and distributive justice derived from Talmudic law, illustrated by a case study involving the sale of organs for transplant. Although organ donation did not exist in late antiquity, this book posits a new way, drawn from the Talmud, to conceive of this modern means of giving to others. Our common understanding of organ transfers as either a gift or sale is trapped in a dichotomy that is conceptually and philosophically limiting. Drawing on Maussian gift theory, this book suggests a different legal and cultural meaning for this property transfer. It introduces the concept of the 'divine lien', an obligation to others in need built into the definition of all property ownership. Rather than a gift or sale, organ transfer is shown to exemplify an owner's voluntary recognition and fulfilment of this latent property obligation.

Bonnie Steinbock presents The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics --an authoritative, state-of-the-art guide to current issues in bioethics.
Thirty-four contributors reflect the interdisciplinarity that is characteristic of bioethics, and its increasingly international character. Thirty topics are covered in original essays written by some of the world's leading figures in the field, as well as by some newer "up-and-comers." The essays address both perennial issues, such as the methodology of bioethics, autonomy, justice, death, and moral status, and newer issues, such as biobanking, stem cell research, cloning, pharmacogenomics, and bioterrorism. Other topics concern mental illness and moral agency, the rule of double effect, justice and the elderly, the definition of death, organ transplantation, feminist approaches to commodification of the body, life extension, advance directives, physician-assisted death, abortion, genetic research, population screening, enhancement, research ethics, and the implications of public and global health for bioethics.
Anyone who wants to know how the central debates in bioethics have developed in recent years, and where the debates are going, will want to consult this book. It will be an invaluable resource not only for scholars and graduate students in bioethics, but also for those in philosophy, medicine, law, theology, social science, public policy, and public health who wish to keep abreast of developments in bioethics.

Recovering the forgotten discipline of Natural Philosophy for the modern world This book argues for the retrieval of 'natural philosophy', a concept that faded into comparative obscurity as individual scientific disciplines became established and institutionalized. Natural philosophy was understood in the early modern period as a way of exploring the human relationship with the natural world, encompassing what would now be seen as the distinct disciplines of the natural sciences, mathematics, music, philosophy, and theology. The first part of the work represents a critical conversation with the tradition, identifying the essential characteristics of natural philosophy, particularly its emphasis on both learning about and learning from nature. After noting the factors which led to the disintegration of natural philosophy during the nineteenth century, the second part of the work sets out the reasons why natural philosophy should be retrieved, and a creative and innovative proposal for how this might be done. This draws on Karl Popper's 'Three Worlds' and Mary Midgley's notion of using multiple maps in bringing together the many aspects of the human encounter with the natural world. Such a retrieved or 're-imagined' natural philosophy is able to encourage both human attentiveness and respectfulness towards Nature, while enfolding both the desire to understand the natural world, and the need to preserve the affective, imaginative, and aesthetic aspects of the human response to nature.

Bioethical issues remain front-page news, with debate continuing to rage over issues including genetic modification, animal cloning, and 'designer babies'. With public opinion often driven by media speculation, how can we ensure that informed decisions regarding key bioethical issues are made in a reasoned, objective way? Bioethics: An Introduction for the Biosciences offers a balanced, objective introduction to the field of bioethics, ideal for any biosciences student who is new to the subject. With a focus on developing the students' power of reasoning and judgement, the book presents different perspectives to common themes in an impartial way, fostering debate and discussion. The opening section, 'The Ethical Groundwork', introduces students to the nature of bioethics and ethical theory. The book goes on to lead students through a broad range of bioethical issues relating to people, animals, and food, before concluding with an overview of bioethics in practice. The current generation of students will become the next generation of decision makers. Bioethics: An Introduction for the Biosciences is the perfect introduction to a field with which every biosciences student should be familiar. Online Resource Centre The Online Resource Centre features: For registered adopters of the book: - Figures from the book in electronic format, ready to download For students: - A web link library and hyperlinked reference list, giving ready access to additional information sources; - Topical updates: extensive summaries of the latest developments in those topics covered in the book, ensuring that the reader can remain up-to-date at all times

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by The New Yorker and Science News What happens when you try to recreate a woolly mammoth-fascinating science, or conservation catastrophe? Jurassic Park meets The Sixth Extinction in Rise of the Necrofauna, a provocative look at de-extinction from acclaimed documentarist and science writer Britt Wray, PhD. In Rise of the Necrofauna, Wray takes us deep into the minds and labs of some of the world's most progressive thinkers to find out. She introduces us to renowned futurists like Stewart Brand and scientists like George Church, who are harnessing the powers of CRISPR gene editing in the hopes of "reviving" extinct passenger pigeons, woolly mammoths, and heath hens. She speaks with Nikita Zimov, who together with his eclectic father Sergey, is creating Siberia's Pleistocene Park-a daring attempt to rebuild the mammoth's ancient ecosystem in order to save earth from climate disaster. Through interviews with these and other thought leaders, Wray reveals the many incredible opportunities for research and conservation made possible by this emerging new field. But we also hear from more cautionary voices, like those of researcher and award-winning author Beth Shapiro (How to Clone a Woolly Mammoth) and environmental philosopher Thomas van Dooren. Writing with passion and perspective, Wray delves into the larger questions that come with this incredible new science, reminding us that de-extinction could bring just as many dangers as it does possibilities. What happens, for example, when we bring an "unextinct" creature back into the wild? How can we care for these strange animals and ensure their comfort and safety-not to mention our own? And what does de-extinction mean for those species that are currently endangered? Is it really ethical to bring back an extinct passenger pigeon, for example, when countless other birds today will face the same fate? By unpacking the many biological, technological, ethical, environmental, and legal questions raised by this fascinating new field, Wray offers a captivating look at the best and worst of resurrection science. Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute.

Producing and rearing children are immensely important human activities. Procreation and Parenthood offers new and original essays by leading philosophers on some of the main ethical issues raised by these activities. An Introduction supplies an accessible overview of the current debates. Individual chapters then take up particular problems such as: the morality of bringing people into existence; what limits there might be on a person's freedom to reproduce; whether human beings need to ensure that they only create the best possible children; whether there is a conflict between justice and parents' devotion of time and money to their own children; and, whether parents acquire their role because of their intention to do so or because they are responsible for bringing children into being.

Since the 1980s, MRI scanners have told us much about brain function and played an important role in the clinical diagnosis of a number of conditions - both in the brain and the rest of the body. Their routine use has made the diagnosis of brain tumours and brain damage both quicker and more accurate. However, some neuroscientific advances, in particular those that relate specifically to the mind have provoked excitement and discussion in a number of disciplines. One of the most thought provoking developments in recent neuroscience has been the progress made with 'mind-reading'. There seems nothing more private than one's thoughts, some of which we might choose to share with others, and some not. Yet, until now, little has been published on the particular issue of privacy in relation to 'brain' or 'mind' reading.
I know what you're thinking provides a fascinating, interdisciplinary account of the neuroscientific evidence on 'mind reading', as well as a thorough analysis of both legal and moral accounts of privacy. It brings together leading academics from the fields of psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and law. The book considers such issues as the use of imaging to detect awareness in those considered to be in a vegetative state. It looks at issues of mental imaging and national security, the neurobiology of violence, and issues regarding diminished responsibility in criminals, and thus reduced punishment. It also considers how the use of neuroimaging can and should be regulated.
Providing a ground breaking exploration of how brain imaging technologies can throw light on our mental capacities, states, and acts, this is an important new book for psychologists, neuroscientists, bioethicists, philosophers, and lawyers.

How ought the law to deal with novel challenges regarding the use and control of human biomaterials? As it stands the law is ill-equipped to deal with these. Quigley argues that advancing biotechnology means that the law must confront and move boundaries which it has constructed; in particular, those which delineate property from non-property in relation to biomaterials. Drawing together often disparate strands of property discourse, she offers a philosophical and legal re-analysis of the law in relation to property in the body and biomaterials. She advances a new defence, underpinned by self-ownership, of the position that persons ought to be seen as the prima facie holders of property rights in their separated biomaterials. This book will appeal to those interested in medical and property law, philosophy, bioethics, and health policy amongst others.

Biopolitics and posthumanism have been passe theories in the academy for a while now, standing on the unfashionable side of the fault line between biology and liberal thought. These days, if people invoke them, they do so a bit apologetically. But, as Ruth Miller argues, we should not be so quick to relegate these terms to the scholarly dustbin. This is because they can help to explain an increasingly important (and contested) influence in modern democratic politicsthat of nostalgia. Nostalgia is another somewhat embarrassing concept for the academy. It is that wistful sense of longing for an imaginary and unitary past that leads to an impossible future. And, moreover for this book, it is ordinarily considered bad for democracy. But, again, Miller says, not so fast. As she argues in this book, nostalgia is the mode of engagement with the world that allows thought and life to coexist, productively, within democratic politics. Miller demonstrates her theory by looking at nostalgia as a nonhuman mode of thought, embedded in biopolitical reproduction. To put this another way, she looks at mass democracy as a classically nonhuman affair and nostalgic, nonhuman reproduction as the political activity that makes this democracy happen. To illustrate, Miller draws on the politics surrounding embryos and the modernization of the Turkish alphabet. Situating this argument in feminist theories of biopolitics, this unusual and erudite book demonstrates that nostalgia is not as detrimental to democratic engagement as scholars have claimed.

In times of global economic and political crises, the notion of solidarity is gaining new currency. This book argues that a solidarity-based perspective can help us to find new ways to address pressing problems. Exemplified by three case studies from the field of biomedicine: databases for health and disease research, personalised healthcare, and organ donation, it explores how solidarity can make a difference in how we frame problems, and in the policy solutions that we can offer.

Recent advances in the brain sciences have dramatically improved our understanding of brain function. As we find out more and more about what makes us tick, we must stop and consider the ethical implications of this new found knowledge. Will having a new biology of the brain through imaging make us less responsible for our behavior and lose our free will? Should certain brain scan studies be disallowed on the basis of moral grounds? Why is the media so interested in reporting results of brain imaging studies? What ethical lessons from the past can best inform the future of brain imaging?
These compelling questions and many more are tackled by a distinguished group of contributors to this, the first-ever volume on neuroethics. The wide range of disciplinary backgrounds that the authors represent, from neuroscience, bioethics and philosophy, to law, social and health care policy, education, religion and film, allow for profoundly insightful and provocative answers to these questions, and open up the door to a host of new ones. The contributions highlight the timeliness of modern neuroethics today, and assure the longevity and importance of neuroethics for generations to come.

Bioethics has long been accepted as an interdisciplinary field. The recent 'empirical turn' in bioethics is, however, creating challenges that move beyond those of simple interdisciplinary collaboration, as researchers grapple with the methodological, empirical and meta-ethical challenges of combining the normative and the empirical, as well as navigating the difficulties that can arise from attempts to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. Empirical Bioethics: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives brings together contributions from leading experts in the field which speak to these challenges, providing insight into how they can be understood and suggestions for how they might be overcome. Combining discussions of meta-ethical challenges, examples of different methodologies for integrating empirical and normative research, and reflection on the challenges of conducting and publishing such work, this book will both introduce the novice to the field and challenge the expert.