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104Cognitive Enhancement, Rational Choice and JustificationNeuroethics 6 (1): 179-187. 2012.This paper examines the claims in the debate on cognitive enhancement in neuroethics that society wide pressure to enhance can be expected in the near future. The author uses rational choice modeling to test these claims and proceeds with the analysis of proposed types of solutions. The discourage use, laissez-faire and prohibition types of policy are scrutinized for effectiveness, legitimacy and associated costs. Special attention is given to the moderately liberal discourage use policy (and th…Read more
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96AI Assistants and the Paradox of Internal AutomaticityNeuroethics 13 (3): 303-310. 2019.What is the ethical impact of artificial intelligence assistants on human lives, and specifically how much do they threaten our individual autonomy? Recently, as part of forming an ethical framework for thinking about the impact of AI assistants on our lives, John Danaher claims that if the external automaticity generated by the use of AI assistants threatens our autonomy and is therefore ethically problematic, then the internal automaticity we already live with should be viewed in the same way.…Read more
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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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74The Impact of a Landmark Neuroscience Study on Free Will: A Qualitative Analysis of Articles Using Libet and Colleagues' MethodsAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 9 (1): 29-41. 2018.
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72AI in the headlines: the portrayal of the ethical issues of artificial intelligence in the mediaAI and Society 35 (4): 927-936. 2020.As artificial intelligence technologies become increasingly prominent in our daily lives, media coverage of the ethical considerations of these technologies has followed suit. Since previous research has shown that media coverage can drive public discourse about novel technologies, studying how the ethical issues of AI are portrayed in the media may lead to greater insight into the potential ramifications of this public discourse, particularly with regard to development and regulation of AI. Thi…Read more
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71Prohibition or Coffee Shops: Regulation of Amphetamine and Methylphenidate for Enhancement Use by Healthy AdultsAmerican Journal of Bioethics 13 (7): 23-33. 2013.This article analyzes appropriate public policies for enhancement use of two most important stimulant drugs: Ritalin (methylphenidate) and Adderall (mixed amphetamine salts). The author argues that appropriate regulation of cognition enhancement drugs cannot be a result of a general discussion on cognitive enhancements as such, but has to be made on a case-by-case basis. Starting from the recently proposed taxation approach to cognition enhancement drugs, the author analyzes available, moderatel…Read more
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64Media Portrayal of a Landmark Neuroscience Experiment on Free WillScience and Engineering Ethics 23 (4): 989-1007. 2017.The concept of free will has been heavily debated in philosophy and the social sciences. Its alleged importance lies in its association with phenomena fundamental to our understandings of self, such as autonomy, freedom, self-control, agency, and moral responsibility. Consequently, when neuroscience research is interpreted as challenging or even invalidating this concept, a number of heated social and ethical debates surface. We undertook a content analysis of media coverage of Libet’s et al.’s …Read more
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57Moral Enhancement Meets Normative and Empirical Reality: Assessing the Practical Feasibility of Moral Enhancement NeurotechnologiesBioethics 31 (5): 338-348. 2017.Moral enhancement refers to the possibility of making individuals and societies better from a moral standpoint. A fierce debate has emerged about the ethical aspects of moral enhancement, notably because steering moral enhancement in a particular direction involves choosing amongst a wide array of competing options, and these options entail deciding which moral theory or attributes of the moral agent would benefit from enhancement. Furthermore, the ability and effectiveness of different neurotec…Read more
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52Nudging Without Ethical Fudging: Clarifying Physician Obligations to Avoid Ethical CompromiseAmerican Journal of Bioethics 13 (6): 18-19. 2013.In the article “Nudging and Informed Consent”, Cohen argues that the use of “nudging” by physicians in the clinical encounter may be ethically warranted because it results in an informed consent where obligations for beneficence and respect for autonomy are both met. However, the author's overenthusiastic support for nudging and his quick dismissal of shared decision-making leads him to assume that “soft” manipulation is un-problematic and that “wisdom” on the side of medical professionals will …Read more
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52The Authenticity of Machine-Augmented Human Intelligence: Therapy, Enhancement, and the Extended MindNeuroethics 14 (2): 283-290. 2020.Ethical analyses of biomedical human enhancement often consider the issue of authenticity — to what degree can the accomplishments of those utilizing biomedical enhancements be considered authentic or worthy of praise? As research into Brain-Computer Interface technology progresses, it may soon be feasible to create a BCI device that enhances or augments natural human intelligence through some invasive or noninvasive biomedical means. In this article we will review currently existing BCI technol…Read more
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51Present and Emerging Ethical Issues with tDCS use: A Summary and ReviewNeuroethics 16 (1): 1-25. 2022.Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a brain stimulation technique known for its relative safety and minimal invasiveness. tDCS has demonstrated efficacy as a potential treatment for certain neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, and has been shown to enhance a range of cognitive abilities under certain contexts. As a result, this technique has captured the interest of both the research community and the public at large. However, efforts to gather information about the…Read more
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49Ethical Aspects of BCI Technology: What Is the State of the Art?Philosophies 5 (4): 31. 2020.Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) technology is a promising research area in many domains. Brain activity can be interpreted through both invasive and non-invasive monitoring devices, allowing for novel, therapeutic solutions for individuals with disabilities and for other non-medical applications. However, a number of ethical issues have been identified from the use of BCI technology. In this paper, we review the academic discussion of the ethical implications of BCI technology in the last five ye…Read more
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48Cognitive Enhancement and Academic Misconduct: A Study Exploring Their Frequency and RelationshipEthics and Behavior 24 (5): 408-420. 2014.We investigated the acceptability and frequency of the use of cognitive enhancement (CE) drugs and three different types of academic misconduct (plagiarism, cheating in exams, and falsifying/fabricating data). Data from a web-based survey among German university students were used. Moral acceptability was relatively low for CE drug use and moderate for academic misconduct, while the correlation of their respective acceptability was moderately weak. Prevalence of CE drug use was lower than for ac…Read more
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41The Bright Future of NeuroethicsNeuroethics 9 (2): 103-105. 2016.Many new scholars have emerged and started to explore novel directions of research in neuroethics. Last year, we hosted the Montreal Neuroethics Conference for Young Researchers to highlight the development of these new scholars and to honour the evolving complexity of the field. As part of this conference, we invited young researchers involved in neuroethics all around the world to submit their work for consideration in an essay contest. Here, we proudly introduce the three best essays we recei…Read more
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39Neurostimulation Devices for Cognitive Enhancement: Toward a Comprehensive Regulatory FrameworkNeuroethics 8 (2): 115-126. 2014.There is mounting evidence that non-invasive brain stimulation devices - transcranial direct current stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation could be used for cognitive enhancement. However, the regulatory environment surrounding such uses of stimulation devices is less clear than for stimulant drugs—a fact that has already been commercially exploited by several companies. In this paper, the mechanism of action, uses and adverse effects of non-invasive neurostimulation devices are revi…Read more
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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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38Embedding AI in society: ethics, policy, governance, and impactsAI and Society 38 (4): 1267-1271. 2023.
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36The ADC of Moral Judgment: Opening the Black Box of Moral Intuitions With Heuristics About Agents, Deeds, and ConsequencesAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 5 (4): 3-20. 2014.This article proposes a novel integrative approach to moral judgment and a related model that could explain how unconscious heuristic processes are transformed into consciously accessible moral intuitions. Different hypothetical cases have been tested empirically to evoke moral intuitions that support principles from competing moral theories. We define and analyze the types of intuitions that moral theories and studies capture: those focusing on agents (A), deeds (D), and consequences (C). The i…Read more
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36The Normative Implications of Recent Empirical Neuroethics Research on Moral IntuitionsNeuroethics 14 (3): 449-457. 2021.Empirical neuroethics models have always had normative ambitions. Older models attempted to debunk traditional moral theories, whereas newer models attempt to fit their empirical and normative claims with them. The issue of normative significance as it pertains to the use of social science methodology on moral intuitions remains open. This paper analyzes the Is/Ought gap and the empirical underpinnings of influential constructivist approaches in order to argue that the normative ambitions of emp…Read more
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36Porous or Contextualized Autonomy? Knowledge Can Empower Autonomous Moral AgentsAmerican Journal of Bioethics 16 (2): 48-50. 2016.
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35The ubiquity of the fallacy of composition in cognitive enhancement and in educationTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 44 (1): 41-56. 2022.Research into cognitive enhancement is highly controversial, and arguments for and against it have failed to identify the logical fallacy underlying this debate: the fallacy of composition. The fallacy of composition is a lesser-known fallacy of ambiguity, but it has been explored and applied extensively to other fields, including economics. The fallacy of composition, which occurs when the characteristics of the parts of the whole are incorrectly extended to apply to the whole itself, and the c…Read more
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35The complex nature of willpower and conceptual mapping of its normative significance in research on stress, addiction, and dementiaBehavioral and Brain Sciences 44. 2021.Willpower has ramifications for autonomy and mental time-travel. Autonomy presupposes mature powers of volition and the capacity to anticipate future events and consequences of one's actions. Ainslie's study is useful to clarify basic autonomy in addiction and dementia. Furthermore, we show how our study on coping with stress can be applied to suppression and resolve.
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32Response to Open Peer Commentaries on “Prohibition or Coffee Shops: Regulation of Amphetamine and Methylphenidate for Enhancement Use by Healthy Adults”American Journal of Bioethics 14 (1). 2014.In my target article, I analyzed available information and policy options for the two of the most commonly used cognitive enhancement (CE) drugs: Adderall and Ritalin. I concluded that for all forms of amphetamine, including Adderall, and for instant-release forms of methylphenidate, any form of sale beyond prescription for therapeutic purposes needs to be prohibited, while some form of a taxation approach and the economic disincentives model (EDM) in particular could be an option for public pol…Read more
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3121 Selected Abstracts from the Montreal Neuroethics Conference for Young ResearchersNeuroethics 9 (2): 137-145. 2016.The organizers and members of the international abstract review committee conducted anonymous review of all abstracts from the conference for merit based on relevance, originality, strength and clarity of methods and analyses, and overall contribution to the field of neuroethics. Here, we proudly introduce the collection of 21 top-ranked abstracts for the poster contest.
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29“Clock Shock,” Motivational Enhancement, and Performance Maintenance in Adderall UseAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 4 (1): 13-14. 2013.
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29Toward Implementing the ADC Model of Moral Judgment in Autonomous VehiclesScience and Engineering Ethics 26 (5): 2461-2472. 2020.Autonomous vehicles —and accidents they are involved in—attest to the urgent need to consider the ethics of artificial intelligence. The question dominating the discussion so far has been whether we want AVs to behave in a ‘selfish’ or utilitarian manner. Rather than considering modeling self-driving cars on a single moral system like utilitarianism, one possible way to approach programming for AI would be to reflect recent work in neuroethics. The agent–deed–consequence model :3–20, 2014a, Beha…Read more
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29Autonomy in Neuroethics: Political and Not MetaphysicalAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 4 (4): 44-51. 2013.
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28Surveying Ethics: a Measurement Model of Preference for Precepts Implied in Moral Theories (PPIMT)Review of Philosophy and Psychology 13 (1): 197-214. 2022.Recent research in empirical moral psychology attempts to understand (rather than place judgment on) the salient normative differences that laypeople have when making moral decisions by using survey methodology that is based on the operationalized principles from moral theories. The PPIMT is the first measure designed to assess respondents’ preference for the precepts implied in the three dominant moral theories: virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism. The current study used a latent mo…Read more
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28The Socio-Political Roles of Neuroethics and the Case of KlothoAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 13 (1): 10-22. 2022.An increasing amount of very diverse scholarship self-identifies as belonging to the field of neuroethics, illuminating a need to provide some reference points for what that field actually entails. We argue that neuroethics is a single field with distinct perspectives, roles, and subspecialties. We propose that—in addition to the three traditional perspectives delineated by Eric Racine—a fourth, socio-political perspective, must be recognized in neuroethics. The socio-political perspective in ne…Read more
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26Neuroconsumerism and Comprehensive NeuroethicsAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 10 (4): 185-187. 2019.
University of Stuttgart
Alumnus, 2014
Raleigh, North Carolina, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |