Implanted Minds: The Neuroethics Of Intracerebral Stem Cell Transplantation And Deep Brain Stimulation (science Studies)

Intracerebral interventions raise particular ethical issues. For instance, attempts at replacing lost or altered brain cells with the help of stem cells or the therapeutic application of Deep Brain Stimulation would have morally relevant implications. Many medically relevant questions and ethical concerns need to be clarified before these intracerebral interventions can become routine procedure: If the brain is conceived as the carrier of an individual's personality or of the self then operations on the brain can be seen as intrusions upon one's personality. The book addresses historical, philosophical, social and legal implications of these new developments in the neurosciences and aims at resolving some of the dilemmas that go hand in hand with »implanted minds«. CONTENTS Introduction INTRACEREBRAL STEM CELL TRANSPLANTATION Brain, Mind and Regenerative Medicine: Ethical Uncertainties and the Paradox of their Technical Fix Can Intracerebral Interventions Change our Self? – Neuroethical Implications of Ontological Assumptions Parfit’s Concept of Personal Identity and its Implications for Intercerebral Stem Cell Transplants Changes in Personality: Possible Hazards Arising from Stem Cell Grafts – An Ethical and Philosophical Approach Establishing Regenerative Medicine for the Human Brain: Ethical Aspects of Intracerebral Stem Cell Transplantation Experimenting Innovative Cell Therapies for Parkinson’s Disease: A View from Ethics Coping and Expectations of Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION Deep Brain Stimulation in Psychiatric Disorders The Essential Tension: On Ethical and Historical Conundrums in the Trajectories of Deep Brain Stimulation Changes in Personality: Possible Hazards Arising from Chronic Implantation of Electrostimulation Devices such as Deep Brain Stimulation Systems (DBS) or Advanced Electronic Neuroprostheses Personality Changes through Deep Brain Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus in Parkinsonian Patients – An Ethical Discussion Manipulating the Brain – An Ethical Challenge? Lessons from Deep Brain Stimulation in Movement Disorders Questions on Deep Brain Stimulation on Children and Juveniles with Neuropsychiatric Disorders with Extremely Adverse Course Traditional vs. Modern Neuroenhancement: Notes from a Medico-ethical and Societal Perspective Contributors Intracerebral interventions raise particular ethical issues. For instance, attempts at replacing lost or altered brain cells with the help of stem cells or the therapeutic application of Deep Brain Stimulation would have morally relevant implications. Many medically relevant questions and ethical concerns need to be clarified before these intracerebral interventions can become routine procedure: If the brain is conceived as the carrier of an individual's personality or of the self then operations on the brain can be seen as intrusions upon one's personality. The book addresses historical, philosophical, social and legal implications of these new developments in the neurosciences and aims at resolving some of the dilemmas that go hand in hand with »implanted minds«. Neuroethics,Deep Brain Stimulation,Regenerative Medicine,Stem Cells,Medicine,Ethics,Life,Medical Ethics,Bioethics,Sociology Biographical note: Heiner Fangerau (Prof. Dr.) is director of the Institute for the History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine, Ulm University, Germany. Jörg M. Fegert (Prof. Dr.) is director of the Department for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Ulm University, Germany. Thorsten Trapp (Dr.) is senior researcher at the Institute of Transplantation Diagnostics and Cell Therapeutics, Düsseldorf University, Germany