From global bioethics to neuroethics

This paper is a sociological analysis of the development, possible range, and real effects of one of the latest disciplines to emerge - neuroethics as well as bioethics. The starting premise is that the humanities perspective to a medical and philosophical discipline contributes to the very research done by neuroethics itself. This premise is significant given that the study of the brain surpasses current epistemological frameworks, forcing the examination of whether we perhaps need a new “brain” epistemology. New research on the brain, consciousness, and artificial intelligence has presented the public at large with a myriad of benefits in medicine and illness prevention; however, at the same time, it has opened certain social and ethical questions. The projected possibilities in the development of brain medication and interventions have motivated certain scientists today to speak of neuroscience exclusively from the perspective of bioethics. In other words, the challenges to human survival are directly linked to artificially caused advancements in human consciousness, cognition, intelligence, and to an extent even morality, insofar as these characteristics and capacities depend on biochemical and molecular processes. Considering the potentially real societal consequences of such development of a single discipline, we thought it relevant to seek certain answers by analyzing dilemmas and particular medical cases, along with their effects, through the optics of social, humanities, and biomedical phenomena.