The human brain occupies a unique position among the organs of the human body. With its 1010 nerve cells and the innumerable interconnections, it is the most complex living system we know. It is the prerequisite for all though~, feeling, and action and hence for the awareness of ourselves. In many religions and philosophies it was and is considered to be the seat of the immortal soul. For centuries some individuals looked upon the mentally ill with holy reverence, and others responded with shock and radical social ostracism. In the neurosciences, too, the brain is not just one organ among many. As with the genome, it is considered to be an information storage unit. But whereas the genetic information cannot be influenced by the individual carrier, the brain can learn; that is, it is capable of storing information from the life history of its carrier, and it can pass this information on. The neurosciences are an area of research that has cut across the boundaries of the classic disciplines and now includes a broad spectrum ranging from basic research to clinical medicine. These sciences have developed remarkable momentum since they have taken an interdisciplinary approach and made use of experimental techniques and concepts developed in the fields of physics, biochemistry, molecular biology, behavioral physiology, experimental psychology, and computer science.

Das Buch enthAlt die BeitrAge der Tagung "Neurowissenschaft und Ethik," die 1986 in Jakobsberg bei Bonn auf Einladung des Bundeskanzlers stattfand und sich mit den ethischen Fragen befaAte, die in den sich rasch entwickelnden Neurowissenschaften und der Neuromedizin eine Rolle spielen und schon jetzt in die Affentliche Diskussion eingetreten sind. Nach einer eingehenden Darstellung der molekularen Biologie, der Struktur und Funktion neuronaler SignalA1/4bertragungsprozesse sowie der Prinzipien neuronaler Netzwerke werden Probleme neurogenetischer Krankheiten, der Intensivmedizin und der Neurochirurgie vorgestellt. Auf dieser Grundlage werden offene ethische Fragen zu dem Problem der Erforschung und Behandlung von Nerven- und Geisteskrankheiten behandelt und in einer abschlieAenden Empfehlung formuliert.