Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T20:23:07.384Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - Agency, Identity and Dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2019

Walter Glannon
Affiliation:
University of Calgary
Get access

Summary

This chapter examines how memory function enables agency and how memory dysfunction disables agency. Because some memory systems mediating goal-directed behavior may be intact while others are dysfunctional, neurological and psychiatric disorders that impair some of these systems can impair agency to varying degrees. The chapter also analyzes the role of memory in personal identity. Updating the content of episodic memories is necessary to adapt to the environment. But adaptability may come at the expense of identity over an extended period. The chapter discusses precedent autonomy in dementia. It discusses whether the ethical and legal force of an advance directive about medical care in a demented state holds from the time when a person is competent to a time when she is no longer competent and no longer the same person.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Neuroethics of Memory
From Total Recall to Oblivion
, pp. 50 - 83
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×