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176Critical Contextual Empiricism and the Politics of KnowledgeTeorie Vědy / Theory of Science 1 (1). 2023.What are philosophers doing when they prescribe a particular epistemology for science? According to science and technology studies, the answer to this question implicates both knowledge and politics, even when the latter is hidden. Exploring this dynamic via a specific case, I argue that Longino’s “critical contextual empiricism” ultimately relies on a form of political liberalism. Her choice to nevertheless foreground epistemological concerns can be clarified by considering historical relations…Read more
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184Prospects for a Cosmopolitan Right to Scientific ProgressNature Physics 18 (10): 1133-1135. 2022.Declaring a cosmopolitan right to scientific progress risks perpetuating many of the inequities it aims to overcome. This calls for a re-imagination of science that directly responds to science’s links to violent nationalist projects and the harms of capitalism.
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380Promising new solutions or risking unprecedented harms, science and its technological affordances are increasingly portrayed as matters of global concern, requiring in-kind responses. In a wide range of recent discourses and global initiatives, from the International Summits on Human Gene Editing to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, experts and policymakers routinely invoke cosmopolitan aims. The common rhetoric of a shared human future or of one humanity, however, does not always c…Read more
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74Do Publics Share Experts’ Concerns about Brain–Computer Interfaces? A Trinational Survey on the Ethics of Neural TechnologyScience, Technology, and Human Values 2019 (6): 1242-1270. 2019.Since the 1960s, scientists, engineers, and healthcare professionals have developed brain–computer interface (BCI) technologies, connecting the user’s brain activity to communication or motor devices. This new technology has also captured the imagination of publics, industry, and ethicists. Academic ethics has highlighted the ethical challenges of BCIs, although these conclusions often rely on speculative or conceptual methods rather than empirical evidence or public engagement. From a social sc…Read more
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82Science, responsibility, and the philosophical imaginationSynthese 200 (2): 1-19. 2022.If we cannot define science using only analysis or description, then we must rely on imagination to provide us with suitable objects of philosophical inquiry. This process ties our intellectual findings to the particular ways in which we philosophers think about scientific practice and carve out a cognitive space between real world practice and conceptual abstraction. As an example, I consider Heather Douglas’s work on the responsibilities of scientists and document her implicit ideal of science…Read more
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Neuroengineering and Ethics: Identifying Common Themes and Areas of Need Across Proposed Ethical FrameworksIn Nitish V. Thakor (ed.), Springer Handbook of Neuroengineering, . forthcoming.Recent advancements in neuroengineering research have prompted neuroethicists to propose a variety of “ethical guidance” frameworks (e.g., principles, guidelines, framing questions, responsible research innovation frameworks, and ethical priorities) to inform this work. In this chapter, we offer a comparative analysis of five recently proposed ethical guidance frameworks (NIH neuroethics guiding principles, Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Global Neuroethics Summit Delegates, the Center for Neurot…Read more
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14Asilomar Survey: Researcher Perspectives on Ethical Guidelines for BCI ResearchBrain-Computer Interfaces 4 (5): 97-111. 2018.Brain-computer Interface (BCI) research is rapidly expanding, and it engages domains of human experience that many find central to our current understanding of ourselves. Ethical principles or guidelines can provide researchers with tools to engage in ethical reflection and to address practical problems in research. Though researchers have called for clearer ethical principles or guidelines, there is little existing data on what form these should take. We developed a prospective set of ethical p…Read more
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40Pragmatism for a Digital Society: The (In)Significance of Artificial Intelligence and Neural TechnologyIn Orsolya Friedrich, Andreas Wolkenstein, Christoph Bublitz, Ralf J. Jox & Eric Racine (eds.), Clinical Neurotechnology meets Artificial Intelligence, Springer. pp. 81-100. 2021.Headlines in 2019 are inundated with claims about the “digital society,” making sweeping assertions of societal benefits and dangers caused by a range of technologies. This situation would seem an ideal motivation for ethics research, and indeed much research on this topic is published, with more every day. However, ethics researchers may feel a sense of déjà vu, as they recall decades of other heavily promoted technological platforms, from genomics and nanotechnology to machine learning. How sh…Read more
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59Multi-cellular engineered living systems: building a community around responsible research on emergenceBiofabrication 11 (4). 2019.Ranging from miniaturized biological robots to organoids, multi-cellular engineered living systems (M-CELS) pose complex ethical and societal challenges. Some of these challenges, such as how to best distribute risks and benefits, are likely to arise in the development of any new technology. Other challenges arise specifically because of the particular characteristics of M-CELS. For example, as an engineered living system becomes increasingly complex, it may provoke societal debate about its mor…Read more
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88Brain-computer interfaces and personhood: interdisciplinary deliberations on neural technologyJournal of Neural Engineering 16 (6). 2019.Scientists, engineers, and healthcare professionals are currently developing a variety of new devices under the category of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Current and future applications are both medical/assistive (e.g., for communication) and non-medical (e.g., for gaming). This array of possibilities comes with ethical challenges for all stakeholders. As a result, BCIs have been an object of both hope and concern in various media. We argue that these conflicting sentiments can be productive…Read more
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48Do We Need Neuroethics?American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 10 (3): 101-103. 2019.Do we need neuroethics? This provocative question, posed almost 20 years after a series of landmark neuroethics conferences in North America (Marcus 2002; Canadian Institutes of Health Research 2002), can’t be answered briefly. We can, however, consider some of the most important arguments in favor of neuroethics. First, neuroethics may appear to be needed because neuroscience offers a new lens on human morality. This is an argument made by neuroscientists Michael Gazzaniga (Gazzaniga 2005…Read more
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69Two Problematic Foundations of Neuroethics and Pragmatist ReconstructionsCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 27 (4): 566-577. 2018.Common understandings of neuroethics, i.e., of its distinctive nature, are premised on two distinct sets of claims: (1) neuroscience can change views about the nature of ethics itself and neuroethics is dedicated to reaping such an understanding of ethics; (2) neuroscience poses challenges distinct from other areas of medicine and science and neuroethics tackles those issues. Critiques have rightfully challenged both claims, stressing how the first may lead to problematic forms of reductionism w…Read more
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25If we cannot define science using only analysis or description, then we must rely on imagination to provide us with suitable objects of philosophical inquiry. This process links our findings to the particular ways in which we philosophers idealize scientific practice and carve out an experimental space between real world practice and thought experiments. As an example, I examine Heather Douglas’ recent work on the responsibilities of scientists and contrast her account of science with that of “t…Read more
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26Neuroessentialism in Discussions About the Impact of Closed-Loop Technologies on Agency and IdentityAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 8 (2): 81-83. 2017.
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72Ethical aspects of brain computer interfaces: a scoping reviewBMC Medical Ethics 18 (1): 60. 2017.Brain-Computer Interface is a set of technologies that are of increasing interest to researchers. BCI has been proposed as assistive technology for individuals who are non-communicative or paralyzed, such as those with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or spinal cord injury. The technology has also been suggested for enhancement and entertainment uses, and there are companies currently marketing BCI devices for those purposes as well as health-related purposes. The unprecedented direct connection cr…Read more
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40Silent performances: Are “repertoires” really post-Kuhnian?Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 61 51-56. 2017.Ankeny and Leonelli propose “repertoires” as a new way to understand the stability of certain research programs as well as scientific change in general. By bringing a more complete range of social, material, and epistemic elements into one framework, they position their work as a correction for the Kuhnian impulse in philosophy of science and other areas of science studies. I argue that this “post-Kuhnian” move is not complete, and that repertoires maintain an internalist perspective, caused par…Read more
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45Keeping Disability in Mind: A Case Study in Implantable Brain–Computer Interface ResearchScience and Engineering Ethics 24 (2): 479-504. 2018.Brain–Computer Interface research is an interdisciplinary area of study within Neural Engineering. Recent interest in end-user perspectives has led to an intersection with user-centered design. The goal of user-centered design is to reduce the translational gap between researchers and potential end users. However, while qualitative studies have been conducted with end users of BCI technology, little is known about individual BCI researchers’ experience with and attitudes towards UCD. Given the s…Read more
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385Stanford’s Unconceived Alternatives from the Perspective of Epistemic ObligationsPhilosophy of Science 82 (5): 856-866. 2015.Kyle Stanford’s reformulation of the problem of underdetermination has the potential to highlight the epistemic obligations of scientists. Stanford, however, presents the phenomenon of unconceived alternatives as a problem for realists, despite critics’ insistence that we have contextual explanations for scientists’ failure to conceive of their successors’ theories. I propose that responsibilist epistemology and the concept of “role oughts,” as discussed by Lorraine Code and Richard Feldman, can…Read more
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76Engineering the Brain: Ethical Issues and the Introduction of Neural DevicesHastings Center Report 45 (6): 26-35. 2015.Neural engineering technologies such as implanted deep brain stimulators and brain-computer interfaces represent exciting and potentially transformative tools for improving human health and well-being. Yet their current use and future prospects raise a variety of ethical and philosophical concerns. Devices that alter brain function invite us to think deeply about a range of ethical concerns—identity, normality, authority, responsibility, privacy, and justice. If a device is stimulating my brain …Read more
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Sociology of Knowledge |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Biomedical Ethics |
General Philosophy of Science |
Technology Ethics |
Sociology of Science |