Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Developments in neuroscience
- 2 The origins of the modern concept of “neuroscience”
- 3 On the cusp
- 4 The mind-body issue
- 5 Personal identity and the nature of the self
- 6 Religious issues and the question of moral autonomy
- 7 Toward a cognitive neurobiology of the moral virtues
- 8 From a neurophilosophy of pain to a neuroethics of pain care
- 9 Transplantation and xenotransplantation
- 10 Neurogenetics and ethics
- 11 Neuroimaging
- 12 Can we read minds?
- 13 Possibilities, limits, and implications of brain-computer interfacing technologies
- 14 Neural engineering
- 15 Neurotechnology as a public good
- 16 Globalization: pluralist concerns and contexts
- 17 The human condition and strivings to flourish
- 18 The limits of neuro-talk
- Afterword
- Index
Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Developments in neuroscience
- 2 The origins of the modern concept of “neuroscience”
- 3 On the cusp
- 4 The mind-body issue
- 5 Personal identity and the nature of the self
- 6 Religious issues and the question of moral autonomy
- 7 Toward a cognitive neurobiology of the moral virtues
- 8 From a neurophilosophy of pain to a neuroethics of pain care
- 9 Transplantation and xenotransplantation
- 10 Neurogenetics and ethics
- 11 Neuroimaging
- 12 Can we read minds?
- 13 Possibilities, limits, and implications of brain-computer interfacing technologies
- 14 Neural engineering
- 15 Neurotechnology as a public good
- 16 Globalization: pluralist concerns and contexts
- 17 The human condition and strivings to flourish
- 18 The limits of neuro-talk
- Afterword
- Index
Summary
The field of neuroscience has “evolved” as an inter-disciplinarity of neurobiology, anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and psychology, to focus upon the structure and function of nervous systems (in both human and non-human organisms). Growing from older iterations of experimental and physiological psychology, neuroscience initially addressed mechanisms of neural function as related to sensory and motor systems, learning and memory, cognition, and ultimately consciousness. These basic approaches fostered subsequent studies that were specifically relevant to medicine (e.g. neurology, psychiatry, and pain care), and, more recently, social practices (such as consumer behavior, and spiritual and religious practices and experiences).
In the United States, the congressionally dedicated Decade of the Brain (1990–2000) provided political incentive to support neuroscientific research with renewed intensity. As a result, significant discoveries were achieved in a variety of areas including neurogenetics, neuro- and psychopharmacology, and neuroimaging. This progress was not limited to the United States; rather, the Decade of the Brain served to provide a funding base that catalyzed international cooperation. We feel that this was the beginning of a “culture of neuroscience” that was created from, and continues to engage a world-wide “think tank” atmosphere that facilitates academic, medical, and technological collaboration, rapid scientific developments, and widely distributed effects in research, health care, and public life.
In addition, neuroscience has become a venue for the employment of cutting edge biotechnology that is extending the capabilities and boundaries of both investigation and intervention.
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- Scientific and Philosophical Perspectives in Neuroethics , pp. xxv - xxxPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
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