PHIL 4500 Seminar: Neuroethics
John D. Arras and Donna Chen / Fall 2014 /
Tuesdays, 5:15-7:45 PM,Barringer Wing 5382
COURSE SYNOPSIS: Team-taught by a philosopher (Prof. John Arras) and psychiatrist (Prof. Donna Chen), this course will explore some implications of
neuroscience research and practice for ethics and society. One broad category of topics will include the implications of advances in neuroscience (fMRI, psychopharmacology, etc.) for our self-understanding. (Do we have free will? Should the law forget about moral guilt?) A second category of topics will include the responsible uses of the powers generated by neuroscience (e.g., Neuromarketing and the molding of consumer preferences).
OFFICE HOURS:Regular office hourswith John Arras will be held in Room5367in Barringer Wing (Medical School) from 1:30-3:00 PM on Tuesdays and 11:30-1:00 PMon Thursdays.Alternative hoursavailable by appointment.Drop-insare usually welcome.Office phone:924-7863; home phone: 970-1712.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Students are required to attend seminar sessions on a regular basis and to come fully prepared to participate in discussion of the assigned texts. There will be no examinations, but each student will submit a substantial amount of writing. Undergraduates will be expected to submit one paper of roughly 15-20 pages. Time permitting, each seminar member will deliver a class presentation based upon his or her research during the semester; everyone will also be expected to present brief expositions and analyses of several texts throughout the course of the semester. Everyone will be charged with writing short weekly email responses to the reading assignments. (More on this later.) You will be graded mostly on the basis of the quality of your written work, but class participation will also be a very important factor.
TOPICS FOR RESEARCH:
Given the breadth of topics discussed in this course and the mix of students enrolled, I suspect that different students will be taking this seminar for different reasons. Students in philosophy and religious studies may well be primarily interested in topics that directly implicate their background in ethics, political philosophy or religious ethics – e.g., free will -- while the cognitive science / neuroscience students might want to pursue a more robust science/policy track. Consequently, students should feel free to follow their own interests in their writing. Just be sure to consult with JDA as you mull over your choice of topic. See below for a tentative table of contents (TOC).
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Martha J. Farah, Neuroethics: An Introduction with Readings (Univ. bookstore)
Supplementary Reader in Neuroethics (available at N.K. Print & Design, 7 Elliewood Avenue (where Brillig Books used to be). 434-296-9669
Recommended supplementary text: Neil Levy, Neuroethics: Challenges for the 21stCentury (Cambridge, 2007). (This excellent book would be required were it not obscenely overpriced. You can, however, rent it as a Kindle edition from Amazon for a semi-reasonable price ($13.00). A few copies will be placed on reserve in Clemmons Library.
GRADING: Your final grade will depend upon the quality of your contributions to seminar discussions, your weekly response papers, and, of course, your final seminar paper. Grading in an advanced seminar like this is an inexact science. Most of the weight will lie with your term paper, which will be graded in phases (e.g., early prospectus, first draft, final draft). The total weight for the paper should be around 50% of your grade. The other 50% will be divided between your class participation (do you come prepared, do you bring interesting comments / criticisms to the table?) and your weekly responses to the readings (do you just fax in a couple of bland paragraphs, regurgitating the main points; or do you say something interesting and conducive to discussion?)
HONOR POLICY
We trust every student in this course to fully comply with all of the provisions of the UVa Honor System. By enrolling in this course, you have agreed to abide by and uphold the Honor System of the University of Virginia, as well as the following policies specific to this course.
- All graded assignments must be pledged
- You may not access any notes, study outlines, problem sets, old exams, answer keys, or collaborate with other students without our explicit permission
- When given permission to collaborate with others, do not copy answers from another student
- Always cite any resources or individuals you consult to complete an assignment
- Violations may be forwarded to the Honor Committee and, at ourdiscretion, you may receive an “F” on a particular assignment or for the entire course, regardless of any action taken by the Honor Committee.
If you believe you may have committed an Honor Offense, you may wish to file a Conscientious Retraction (“CR”) by calling the Honor Offices at (434) 924-7602. For your retraction to be considered valid, it must, among other things, be filed with the Honor Committee before you are aware that the Act in question has come under suspicion by anyone. More information can be found at
TABLE OF CONTENTS
All items in this TOC can be found either in our textbook (ed., Farah), highlighted in bold below, or in the Supplementary Reader, shown below in normal greyscale.
Neuroethics: An Overview1-10
Supplementary Readings:
Walter Glannon, Bioethics and the Brain. “Brain, Body and Self” pp 13-29
Martha Farah, Oxford Handbook of Neuroethics.“Neuroscience and Neuroethics in the 21st Century” pp. 761-776
Rebecca Goldstein, Plato at the Googleplex. “Plato in the Magnet.” Pp. 396-421.
Neurohype:
Eric Racine, “Neuroscience and the Media: Ethical Challenges and Opportunities”
Gary Marcus, “The Problem with the Neuroscience Backlash”
Better Brains11
2.1 Lifestyle Drugs: Pharmacology and the Social Agenda, Rod Flower, 19
2.2 Neurocognitive Enhancement: What Can We Do and What Should We Do? Martha J. Farah, et al., 30
2.3 The Run on Ritalin: Attention Deficit Disorder and Stimulant Treatment in the 1990s
Lawrence H. Diller, 42
2.4 Beyond Therapy: Essential Sources of Concern, President's Council on Bioethics, 58
2.5 Toward Responsible Use of Cognitive-Enhancing Drugs by the Healthy: Policy Suggestions,
Henry Greely, et al., 73
Supplementary Readings:
Urban; Jun-Gao: “Performance enhancement at the cost of potential brain plasticity: neural ramifications of nootropic drugs in the healthy developing brain”
David Degrazia, “Moral Enhancement, Freedom, and What We Should Value in Moral Behavior” and commentaries
Savulescu; Persson: Chapter from Unfit for the Future or “The Perils of Cognitive Enhancement and the Urgent Imperative to Enhance the Moral Character of Humanity”
Inmaculada de Melo-Martin and Arleen Salles, “Moral Bioenhancement: Much Ado About Nothing?”
Brain, Self, and Authenticity79
3.1 Memory Blunting: Ethical Analysis, President's Council on Bioethics, 88
3.2 Ethical Implications of Memory Dampening, Adam J. Kolber97
3.3 Prozac as a Way of Life, Carl Elliott119
3.4 The Valorization of Sadness: Alienation and the Melancholic Temperament, Peter D. Kramer, 131
Supplementary Readings:
Walter Glannon, “Brain, Body and Self” pp 29-44
Michael Gazzaniga,The Ethical Brain.“The Brain Produces a Poor Autobiography” pp. 120-142
Brain Reading 137
4.1 Neuroimaging of Emotion and Personality: Ethical Considerations, Turhan Canli and Zenab Amin, 147
4.2 Neurobiology of Intelligence: Science and Ethics, Jeremy R. Gray and Paul M. Thompson, 155
4.3 Emerging Neurotechnologies for Lie Detection: Promises and Perils, Paul Root Wolpe, Kenneth R. Foster, and Daniel D. Langleben, 165
4.4 fMRI in the Public Eye, Eric Racine, Ofek Bar-Ilan, and Judy Illes, 185
4.5 Race, Behavior, and the Brain: The Role of Neuroimaging in Understanding Complex Social Behaviors, Elizabeth Phelps and Laura A. Thomas, 191
4.6 Regulating Neuroimaging, Stacey A. Tovino, 201
Supplementary Readings:
Hastings Center Report: “Interpreting Neuroimages: An Introduction to the Technology and Its Limitations”
“Brain Imaging for Legal Thinkers: A Guide for the Perplexed”, Buckholtz; Shaw; Marois
Neuroscience and Morality
Supplementary Readings:
Patricia Churchland,“The neurobiological platform for moral values”
Cushman; Greene, “Finding Faults: How Moral Dilemmas Illuminate Cognitive Structure”
Joshua Greene, “Beyond Point-and-Shoot Morality: Why Cognitive (Neuro)Science Matters for Ethics.”
Neuroscience and Justice 211
5.1 An Overview of the Impact of Neuroscience Evidence in Criminal Law, President's Council on Bioethics Staff, 220
5.2 For the Law, Neuroscience Changes Nothing and Everything, JoshuaGreene and Jonathan Cohen, 232
5.3 The Neurobiology of Addiction: Implications for the Voluntary Control of Behavior, Steven E. Hyman, 259
5.4 Brain Overclaim Syndrome and Criminal Responsibility: A Diagnostic Note, Stephen J. Morse, 268
5.5 State-Imposed Brain Intervention: The Case of Pharmacotherapy for Drug Abuse, Richard G. Boire,281
Supplementary Readings:
Herbert Morris, “Persons and Punishment”
P.F. Strawson, “Freedom and Resentment”
DerkPerreboom, “Determinism Al Dente”
Alfred Mele, “Free Will and Neuroscience”
Benjamin Libet,“Do We Have Free Will?”
Brains and Persons 295
6.1 Death, Unconsciousness, and the Brain 302 Steven Laureys
6.2 Personhood: An Illusion Rooted in Brain Function?321 Martha J. Farah and Andrea S. Heberlein
6.3 Animal Neuroethics and the Problem of Other Minds 339 Martha J. Farah
6.4 Digital People: Making Them and Using Them 350 Sidney Perkowitz
6.5 From Neurons to Politics-Without a Soul 357,Nancey Murphy
Supplementary Readings:
Neil Levy, “Neuroethics and the Extended Mind” pp.285-294
Joseph Fins, “From the Persistent Vegetative State to the Minimally Conscious State: Ethical Implications of Disorders of Consciousness”