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18Peering into Vulnerable Genes: Genetic Risk and Population ScreeningNarrative Inquiry in Bioethics 5 (3): 222-224. 2015.
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25Mirror Synesthesia and the Limits of MisidentificationPhilosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 25 (3): 169-172. 2018.In Possibilities of Misidentification, Ashwell contends that the immunity principle developed and defended in my Pathologies of Thought and First Person Authority "doesn't show us anything about introspection or the first person—which should make us wonder whether it really captures that's at stake in discussions of IEM". Ashwell's argument hinges on two claims: IP turns on features that are not unique to introspection, to the first person, or to "subject matter that is thought to have IEM", and…Read more
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6Emerging Consciousness at a Clinical CrossroadsAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 12 (2-3): 148-150. 2021.
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4Ethics and Ontology in Deep Brain StimulationAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 5 (1): 34-35. 2014.
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6Compassionate Care for the Unconscious and IncapacitatedAmerican Journal of Bioethics 20 (2): 55-57. 2020.Volume 20, Issue 2, February 2020, Page 55-57.
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11“Consciousness” as a Vague PredicateAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 8 (3): 157-159. 2017.
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19Bioenhancements and the telos of medicineMedicine, Health Care and Philosophy 18 (4): 515-522. 2015.Staggering advances in biotechnology within the past decade have given rise to pharmacological, surgical and prosthetic techniques capable of enhancing human functioning rather than merely treating or preventing disease. Bioenhancement technologies range from nootropics capable of enhancing cognitive abilities to distraction osteogenesis, a surgical technique capable of increasing height through limb lengthening. This paper examines whether the use of bioenhancements falls inside or outside the …Read more
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44Pathologies of Thought and First-Person AuthorityPhilosophy, Psychiatry, and Psychology 25 (3): 151-159. 2018.Insofar as psychiatrists and neurologists tend to the cognitive well-being of others, their work is interwoven with philosophical concerns and theoretical assumptions about the nature of the mind, its myriad functions, and the conditions governing its multiform pathologies. That the mind figures so prominently in their ordinary language attests to the wealth of insights that stands to be gained through a dialogue with philosophy. In one of the earliest efforts to taxonomize psychiatric medicine,…Read more
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12Ketamine Enhanced Psychotherapy: Preliminary Clinical Observations on its Effectiveness in Treating Death AnxietyInternational Journal of Transpersonal Studies 26 (1): 1-17. 2007.Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic commonly used by US physicians, has recently been shown to be a powerful anti-depressant and is also capable of eliciting transpersonal experiences that can be transformative. Although currently approved in the US only for use as an anesthetic, physicians there can legally prescribe it off-label to treat various psychological/ psychiatric problems and it has been used for these non-anesthetic purposes in Argentina, Iran, Mexico, Russia, and the UK, as well as …Read more
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35The short- and long-term consequences of believing an illusionBehavioral and Brain Sciences 27 (5): 677-678. 2004.The experience of free will has causal consequences, albeit not immediate ones. Although Wegner recognizes this, his model failed to incorporate this causal link. Is this experience central to “what makes us human”? A broad acceptance of Wegner's claim that free will is illusory has significant societal and religious consequences, therefore the threshold of evidence needs to be correspondingly high.