Education and the Ethics of Neuro-enhancement

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Abstract

The potential and factual use of pharmacological neuro-enhancement in the educational system has raised pedagogical, political, juridical, and ethical controversies. In this paper, I will address some of the systematic theoretical questions that permeate these debates. Since advocates of the educational use of neuro-enhancement often do not theoretically clarify what they mean by “education,” I am first going to analyze different conceptions of education (e.g., value-based vs. technological conceptions) to develop a more complex theoretical picture of the “educational status” of neuro-enhancement (Sect. 9.2). Second, I am going to discuss two central problems of an ethics of the educational use of pharmacological neuro-enhancement (Sect. 9.3). Beginning with an analysis of the limits of consent-based and autonomy-oriented forms of justification of cognitive neuro-enhancement in education (Sect. 9.3.1), I am going to provide a theoretical reconstruction of (potential) ethical implications of the use of pharmacological neuro-enhancement for central educational categories and practices (achievement, responsibility, and authenticity) (Sect. 9.3.2). My major argumentative aim is to clarify and question fallible empirical and conceptual assumptions that are used to frame rationales for and against the introduction of neuro-enhancement in the domain of education.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationShaping Children
Subtitle of host publicationEthical and Social Questions that Arise when Enhancing the Young
EditorsSaskia Nagel
PublisherSpringer
Chapter9
Pages125-142
Number of pages18
ISBN (Electronic)9783030106775
ISBN (Print)9783030106768
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Publication series

NameAdvances in Neuroethics (AIN)
PublisherSpringer
ISSN (Print)2522-5677
ISSN (Electronic)2522-5685

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