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175Human Dignity and Transhumanism: Do Anthro-Technological Devices Have Moral Status?American Journal of Bioethics 10 (7): 45-52. 2010.In this paper, I focus on the concept of human dignity and critically assess whether such a concept, as used in the Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, is indeed a useful tool for bioethical debates. However, I consider this concept within the context of the development of emerging technologies, that is, with a particular focus on transhumanism. The question I address is not whether attaching artificial limbs or enhancing particular traits or capacities would dehumanize or undig…Read more
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123Beyond therapy and enhancement: The alteration of human nature (review)NanoEthics 2 (1): 15-23. 2008.With the rapid progress and considerable promise of nanobiotechnology/neurosciences there is the potential of transforming the very nature of human beings and of how humans can conceive of themselves as rational animals through technological innovations. The interface between humans and machines (neuro-digital interface), can potentially alter what it means to be human, i.e., the very idea of human nature and of normal functioning will be changed. In this paper, I argue that we are potentially o…Read more
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123Can medicalization be good? Situating medicalization within bioethicsTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 30 (6): 411-425. 2009.Medicalization has been a process articulated primarily by social scientists, historians, and cultural critics. Comparatively little is written about the role of bioethics in appraising medicalization as a social process. The authors consider what medicalization means, its definition, functions, and criteria for assessment. A series of brief case sketches illustrate how bioethics can contribute to the analysis and public policy discussion of medicalization.
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122The hippocratic oath and contemporary medicine: Dialectic between past ideals and present reality?Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 30 (1). 2005.The Hippocratic Oath, the Hippocratic tradition, and Hippocratic ethics are widely invoked in the popular medical culture as conveying a direction to medical practice and the medical profession. This study critically addresses these invocations of Hippocratic guideposts, noting that reliance on the Hippocratic ethos and the Oath requires establishingwhat the Oath meant to its author, its original community of reception, and generally for ancient medicine what relationships contemporary invocatio…Read more
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99Bioethics as biopoliticsJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 31 (3). 2006.This Article does not have an abstract
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96At the Roots of Transhumanism: From the Enlightenment to a Post-Human FutureJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 35 (6): 617-621. 2010.(No abstract is available for this citation)
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90Neuroethics is an interdisciplinary field that arose in response to novel ethical challenges posed by advances in neuroscience. Historically, neuroethics has provided an opportunity to synergize different disciplines, notably proposing a two-way dialogue between an ‘ethics of neuroscience’ and a ‘neuroscience of ethics’. However, questions surface as to whether a ‘neuroscience of ethics’ is a useful and unified branch of research and whether it can actually inform or lead to theoretical insights…Read more
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89Ethics and Informed Consent of Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) for Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD)Neuroethics 3 (1): 13-22. 2010.Since the Nuremberg trials (1947–1949), informed consent has become central for ethical practice in patient care and biomedical research. Codes of ethics emanating from the Nuremberg Code (1947) recognize the importance of protecting patients and research subjects from abuses, manipulation and deception. Informed consent empowers individuals to autonomously and voluntarily accept or reject participation in either clinical treatment or research. In some cases, however, the underlying mental or ph…Read more
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82Bioethics and the Philosophy of Medicine: A Thirty-Year PerspectiveJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 31 (6): 565-568. 2006.
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78Towards a Governance Framework for Brain DataNeuroethics 15 (2): 1-14. 2022.The increasing availability of brain data within and outside the biomedical field, combined with the application of artificial intelligence (AI) to brain data analysis, poses a challenge for ethics and governance. We identify distinctive ethical implications of brain data acquisition and processing, and outline a multi-level governance framework. This framework is aimed at maximizing the benefits of facilitated brain data collection and further processing for science and medicine whilst minimizi…Read more
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62Minding Rights: Mapping Ethical and Legal Foundations of ‘Neurorights’Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 32 (4): 461-481. 2023.The rise of neurotechnologies, especially in combination with artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods for brain data analytics, has given rise to concerns around the protection of mental privacy, mental integrity and cognitive liberty – often framed as “neurorights” in ethical, legal, and policy discussions. Several states are now looking at including neurorights into their constitutional legal frameworks, and international institutions and organizations, such as UNESCO and the Council of Eur…Read more
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55Questioning the Moral Enhancement ProjectAmerican Journal of Bioethics 14 (4): 1-3. 2014.No abstract
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54The precautionary principle: A dialectical reconsiderationJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 29 (3). 2004.This essay examines an overlooked element of the precautionary principle: a prudent assessment of the long-range or remote catastrophes possibly associated with technological development must include the catastrophes that may take place because of the absence of such technologies. In short, this brief essay attempts to turn the precautionary principle on its head by arguing that, (1) if the long-term survival of any life form is precarious, and if the survival of the current human population is …Read more
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51Keeping the “Human in the Loop” in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Accompanying Commentary for “Correcting the Brain?” by Rainey and ErdenScience and Engineering Ethics 26 (5): 2455-2460. 2020.The benefits of Artificial Intelligence in medicine are unquestionable and it is unlikely that the pace of its development will slow down. From better diagnosis, prognosis, and prevention to more precise surgical procedures, AI has the potential to offer unique opportunities to enhance patient care and improve clinical practice overall. However, at this stage of AI technology development it is unclear whether it will de-humanize or re-humanize medicine. Will AI allow clinicians to spend less tim…Read more
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46Psychopathy, neurotechnologies, and neuroethicsTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 35 (1): 1-6. 2014.In the last decade, a series of acts of violence has increased the interest in understanding what prompts individuals to engage in serial killing, bombing, and other violent acts. The shootings of Columbine, Newtown, and Aurora in the United States, and of Oslo in Norway, 9/11, and the recent bombing during the Boston Marathon have raised questions of how to thwart such tragedies as well as of how to detect and possibly “control” individuals posing a threat to public safety. In addition, the lat…Read more
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44Digital Technologies for Schizophrenia Management: A Descriptive ReviewScience and Engineering Ethics 27 (2): 1-22. 2021.While the implementation of digital technology in psychiatry appears promising, there is an urgent need to address the implications of the absence of ethical design in the early development of such technologies. Some authors have noted the gap between technology development and ethical analysis and have called for an upstream examination of the ethical issues raised by digital technologies. In this paper, we address this suggestion, particularly in relation to digital healthcare technologies for…Read more
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40Doctor Ex Machina: A Critical Assessment of the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Health CareJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 47 (1): 155-178. 2022.This article examines the potential implications of the implementation of artificial intelligence in health care for both its delivery and the medical profession. To this end, the first section explores the basic features of AI and the yet theoretical concept of autonomous AI followed by an overview of current and developing AI applications. Against this background, the second section discusses the transforming roles of physicians and changes in the patient–physician relationship that could be a…Read more
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40Bioethics and the philosophy of medicine: A thirty-year perspectiveJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 31 (6). 2006.This Article does not have an abstract
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39Cognitive Enhancement: Ethical and Policy Implications in International Perspectives (edited book)Oxford University Press USA. 2016.There is a growing literature in neuroethics dealing with the problem of cognitive neuroenhancement for healthy adults. However, discussions on this topic have tended to focus on abstract theoretical positions while concrete policy proposals and detailed models are scarce. Furthermore, discussions tend to rely solely on data from the US, while international perspectives are mostly neglected. Therefore, there is a need for a volume that deals with cognitive enhancement comprehensively in three im…Read more
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35Patient education as empowerment and self-rebiasingMedicine, Health Care and Philosophy 19 (4): 553-561. 2016.The fiduciary nature of the patient-physician relationship requires clinicians to act in the best interest of their patients. Patients are vulnerable due to their health status and lack of medical knowledge, which makes them dependent on the clinicians’ expertise. Competent patients, however, may reject the recommendations of their physician, either refusing beneficial medical interventions or procedures based on their personal views that do not match the perceived medical indication. In some in…Read more
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35Review of John Griffiths, Heleen weyers and Maurice Adams, euthanasia and law in europe . Oxford: Hart publishing, 2008 (review)HEC Forum 21 (1): 107-111. 2009.
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34The Principle of Equivalence Reconsidered: Assessing the Relevance of the Principle of Equivalence in Prison MedicineAmerican Journal of Bioethics 14 (7): 4-12. 2014.In this article we critically examine the principle of equivalence of care in prison medicine. First, we provide an overview of how the principle of equivalence is utilized in various national and international guidelines on health care provision to prisoners. Second, we outline some of the problems associated with its applications, and argue that the principle of equivalence should go beyond equivalence to access and include equivalence of outcomes. However, because of the particular context of…Read more
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34The aim of this thesis is to examine the concept of virtue ethics in Stanley Hauerwas's understanding of virtue and delineate how that contributes to his ethical reasoning and his comprehension of medical ethics. The first chapter focuses on the shift that occurred in moral theory under the stance of the Enlightenment that eroded the traditional idea of morality as the formation of the self, allowing space for new concepts that dismissed the importance of the agent in the ethical task of seeking…Read more
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34Moral Deficits, Moral Motivation and the Feasibility of Moral BioenhancementTopoi 38 (1): 63-71. 2019.The debate over moral bioenhancement has incrementally intensified since 2008, when Persson and Savulescu, and Douglas wrote two separate articles on the reasons why enhancing human moral capabilities and sensitivity through technological means was ethically desirable. In this article, we offer a critique of how Persson and Savulescu theorize about the possibility of moral bioenhancement, including the problem of weakness of will, which they see as a motivational challenge. First, we offer a wor…Read more
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31“Virtue Engineering” and Moral Agency: Will Post-Humans Still Need the Virtues?American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 2 (4): 3-9. 2011.It is not the purpose of this article to evaluate the techno-scientific claims of the transhumanists. Instead, I question seriously the nature of the ethics and morals they claim can, or soon will, be manipulated artificially. I argue that while the possibility to manipulate human behavior via emotional processes exists, the question still remains concerning the content of morality. In other words, neural moral enhancement does not capture the fullness of human moral psychology, which includes m…Read more
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30Neither convention nor constitution - what the debate on stem cell research tells us about the status of the common european ethicsJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 29 (5). 2004.This Article does not have an abstract
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27Individual Responsibility and Solidarity in European Health Care: Further Down the Road to Two-Tier System of Health CareJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 33 (3): 191-197. 2008.
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27Toward a Common Grace Christian Bioethics: A Reformed Protestant Engagement with H. Tristram Engelhardt, JrChristian Bioethics 20 (2): 229-245. 2014.
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25Losing Our (Moral) Self in the Moral Bioenhancement DebateAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 12 (2-3): 87-88. 2021.
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25Development and Identity of Swiss BioethicsIn Kazumasa Hoshino, H. Tristram Engelhardt & Lisa M. Rasmussen (eds.), Bioethics and Moral Content: National Traditions of Health Care Morality: Papers Dedicated in Tribute to Kazumasa Hoshino, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 3--121. 2002.
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |