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Advances in genetic technology in general and medical genetics in
particular will enable us to intervene in the process of human
biological development which extends from zygotes and embryos to
people. This will allow us to control to a great extent the
identities and the length and quality of the lives of people who
already exist, as well as those
This title was first published in 2002: This book is an analysis of
the ways in which mental states ground attributions of
responsibility to persons. Particular features of the book include:
attention to the agent's epistemic capacity for beliefs about the
foreseeable consequences of actions and omissions; attention to the
essential role of emotions in prudential and moral reasoning; a
conception of personal identity that can justify holding persons
responsible at later times for actions performed at earlier times;
an emphasis on neurobiology as the science that should inform our
thinking about free will and responsibility; and the melding of
literature on free will and responsibility in contemporary analytic
philosophy with legal cases, abnormal psychology, neurology and
psychiatry, which offers a richer texture to the general debate on
the relevant issues.
This title was first published in 2002: This book is an analysis of
the ways in which mental states ground attributions of
responsibility to persons. Particular features of the book include:
attention to the agent's epistemic capacity for beliefs about the
foreseeable consequences of actions and omissions; attention to the
essential role of emotions in prudential and moral reasoning; a
conception of personal identity that can justify holding persons
responsible at later times for actions performed at earlier times;
an emphasis on neurobiology as the science that should inform our
thinking about free will and responsibility; and the melding of
literature on free will and responsibility in contemporary analytic
philosophy with legal cases, abnormal psychology, neurology and
psychiatry, which offers a richer texture to the general debate on
the relevant issues.
Advances in genetic technology in general and medical genetics in
particular will enable us to intervene in the process of human
biological development which extends from zygotes and embryos to
people. This will allow us to control to a great extent the
identities and the length and quality of the lives of people who
already exist, as well as those we bring into existence in the near
and distant future. "Genes and Future People" explores two general
philosophical questions, one metaphysical, the other moral: (1) How
do genes, and different forms of genetic intervention (gene
therapy, genetic enhancement, presymptomatic genetic testing of
adults, genetic testing of preimplantation embryos), affect the
identities of the people who already exist and those we bring into
existence? and (2) How do these interventions benefit or harm the
people we cause to exist in the near future and those who will
exist in the distant future by satisfying or defeating their
interest in having reasonably long and disease-free lives?"Genes
and Future People" begins by explaining the connection between
genes and disease, placing genetic within a framework of
evolutionary biology. It then discusses such topics as how genes
and genetic intervention influence personal identity, what genetic
testing of individuals and the knowledge resulting from it entails
about responsibility to others who may be at risk, as well as how
gene therapy and genetic enhancement can affect the identities of
people and benefit or harm them. Furthermore, it discusses various
moral aspects of cloning human beings and body parts. Finally, it
explores the metaphysical and moral implications of genetic
manipulation of the mechanisms of aging to extend the human life
span.The aim "Genes and Future People" is to move philosophers,
bioethicists, and readers in general to reflect on the extent to
which genes determine whether we are healthy or diseased, our
identities as persons, the quality of our lives, and our moral
obligations to future generations of people.
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Immune Ethics
Walter Glannon
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R566
Discovery Miles 5 660
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Ships in 9 - 15 working days
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The immune system maintains homeostasis within human organisms and
protects them from pathogenic threats. But sometimes it cannot
provide this protection on its own, and vaccines may be necessary
to ensure our health and survival. Immune functions can become
dysregulated and result in autoimmune disease or multi-system
damage. Pharmacological and genomic interventions may activate or
modulate immune functions to prevent these outcomes. This Element
is an analysis and discussion of some of the ethical implications
of these interventions. After describing the main components of
innate and adaptive immunity and how it might be enhanced, it
considers the potential benefit and harm from vaccines against
addiction and viruses, immunotherapy for cancer,
neuroimmunomodulating agents to prevent or treat neurodevelopmental
and neurodegenerative diseases, and gene editing of immunity to
enable xenotransplantation and prevent infectious disease. The
Element concludes with an exploration of a possible outcome of
natural competition between humans and microbes.
This Element examines the main ethical aspects of consciousness It
argues that consciousness is not intrinsically valuable but has
value or disvalue for individuals depending on its phenomenology
(what it is like to be aware) and content (what one is aware of).
These two components of awareness shape normative judgments about
how ordered, disordered, altered, restored, diminished and
suppressed conscious states can benefit or harm individuals. They
also influence moral judgments about whether intentionally causing
these states is permissible or impermissible and how these states
can affect behavior. After describing its neurobiological basis,
this Element discusses ethical and legal issues in six categories
of consciousness: phenomenal and access consciousness;
intraoperative awareness; prolonged disorders of consciousness,
dissociative disorders, the role of consciousness in determining
death; and altering and suppressing awareness near the end of life.
Neuroscientific evidence has educated us in the ways in which the
brain mediates our thought and behavior and, therefore, forced us
to critically examine how we conceive of free will. This volume,
featuring contributions from an international and interdisciplinary
group of distinguished researchers and scholars, explores how our
increasing knowledge of the brain can elucidate the concept of the
will and whether or to what extent it is free. It also examines how
brain science can inform our normative judgments of moral and
criminal responsibility for our actions. Some chapters point out
the different respects in which mental disorders can compromise the
will and others show how different forms of neuromodulation can
reveal the neural underpinning of the mental capacities associated
with the will and can restore or enhance them when they are
impaired.
Neuroscientific evidence has educated us in the ways in which the
brain mediates our thought and behavior and, therefore, forced us
to critically examine how we conceive of free will. This volume,
featuring contributions from an international and interdisciplinary
group of distinguished researchers and scholars, explores how our
increasing knowledge of the brain can elucidate the concept of the
will and whether or to what extent it is free. It also examines how
brain science can inform our normative judgments of moral and
criminal responsibility for our actions. Some chapters point out
the different respects in which mental disorders can compromise the
will and others show how different forms of neuromodulation can
reveal the neural underpinning of the mental capacities associated
with the will and can restore or enhance them when they are
impaired.
This book is a discussion of the most timely and contentious issues
in the two branches of neuroethics: the neuroscience of ethics; and
the ethics of neuroscience. Drawing upon recent work in psychiatry,
neurology, and neurosurgery, it develops a phenomenologically
inspired theory of neuroscience to explain the brain-mind relation.
The idea that the mind is shaped not just by the brain but also by
the body and how the human subject interacts with the environment
has significant implications for free will, moral responsibility,
and moral justification of actions. It also provides a better
understanding of how different interventions in the brain can
benefit or harm us. In addition, the book discusses brain imaging
techniques to diagnose altered states of consciousness, deep-brain
stimulation to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, and restorative
neurosurgery for neurodegenerative diseases. It examines the
medical and ethical trade-offs of these interventions in the brain
when they produce both positive and negative physical and
psychological effects, and how these trade-offs shape decisions by
physicians and patients about whether to provide and undergo them.
Our ability to map and intervene in the structure of the human
brain is proceeding at a very quick rate. Advances in psychiatry,
neurology, and neurosurgery have given us fresh insights into the
neurobiological basis of human thought and behavior. Technologies
like MRI and PET scans can detect early signs of psychiatric
disorders before they manifest symptoms. Electrical and magnetic
stimulation of the brain can non-invasively relieve symptoms of
obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and other conditions
resistant to treatment, while implanting neuro-electrodes can help
patients with Parkinsons and other motor control-related diseases.
New drugs can help regenerate neuronal connections otherwise
disrupted by schizophrenia and similar diseases.
All these procedures and drugs alter the neural correlates of our
mind and raise fascinating and important ethical questions about
their benefits and harms. They are, in a sense, among the most
profound bioethical questions we face, since these techniques can
touch on the deepest aspects of the human mind: free will; personal
identity; the self; and the soul. This is the first single-author
book on what has come to be known as neuroethics. Walter Glannon
uses a philosophical framework that is fully informed by cutting
edge neuroscience as well as contemporary legal cases such as Terri
Schiavo, to offer readers an introduction to this fascinating
topic. He starts by describing the state of the art in
neuroscientific research and treatment, and gives the reader an
up-to-date picture of the brain. Glannon then looks at the ethical
implications of various kinds of treatments, such as: whether or
not brain imaging will end up changing our viewson free will and
moral responsibility; whether patients should always be told that
they are at future risk for neurological diseases; if erasing
unconscious emotional memories implicated in depression can go too
far; if forcing behavior-modifying drugs or surgery on violent
offenders can ever be justified; the implications of drugs that
enhance cognitive abilities; and how to define brain death and the
criteria for the withdrawal of life-support. While not exhaustive,
Glannons work addresses a wide range of fascinating issues and his
pathbreaking work should appeal to philosophers, psychiatrists,
neurologists, neurosurgeons, radiologists, psychologists, and
bioethicists.
This book is a discussion of the most timely and contentious issues
in the two branches of neuroethics: the neuroscience of ethics; and
the ethics of neuroscience. Drawing upon recent work in psychiatry,
neurology, and neurosurgery, it develops a phenomenologically
inspired theory of neuroscience to explain the brain-mind relation.
The idea that the mind is shaped not just by the brain but also by
the body and how the human subject interacts with the environment
has significant implications for free will, moral responsibility,
and moral justification of actions. It also provides a better
understanding of how different interventions in the brain can
benefit or harm us. In addition, the book discusses brain imaging
techniques to diagnose altered states of consciousness, deep-brain
stimulation to treat neuropsychiatric disorders, and restorative
neurosurgery for neurodegenerative diseases. It examines the
medical and ethical trade-offs of these interventions in the brain
when they produce both positive and negative physical and
psychological effects, and how these trade-offs shape decisions by
physicians and patients about whether to provide and undergo them.
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