This book offers the policy-maker or decision-maker key insights and
practical information regarding the features of ethics frameworks best
suited to the ethical assessment of human cognitive enhancement (HCE)
applications, such as pharmaceutical cognitive enhancers and noninvasive
brain stimulation techniques. This book takes as its departure point the
entrenched philosophical debate between opponents and proponents of HCE
and the increased feasibility of some applications of HCE. Recent calls
for policy-making in the area of human enhancement reflect the need to
find a balance between addressing current ethical issues and issues that
are more speculative in nature or are underpinned by abstract
philosophical concepts. Practical ethical approaches for policy or
decision-making should enable the development of an evidence base for
the risks and benefits of HCE applications. Moreover, such practical
approaches should also incorporate a broader range of value bases that
would facilitate convergence regarding certain decisions and judgements.
This book identifies and evaluate tools that help us to go beyond
polarised philosophical debates in order to assist practical decision
makers in concrete ethical deliberation and decision-making. The focus
is on systematic methods with which to identify relevant ethical values
and assess the impacts of an HCE application on those values in order to
facilitate decision-making regarding the ethical acceptability or
desirability of the application.
