Neuroethics is a discipline that has marked the way in the international scientific community due to the large number of brain studies and research in recent years.
However, it can be considered an independent discipline since 2002, when a group of specialists from various fields and fields came together to study the ethical and social implications of brain research, considering classical bioethics too generic.
- In 2003.
- The Society for Neuroscience first organized a conference on neuroethics.
- But it was not until 2006 that the Neuroethics Society.
- A group of professionals dedicated to the social.
- Legal.
- Political.
- And ethical implications of the evolution of neuroscience was founded.
As you can see, the development of this discipline is relatively recent, but it is nevertheless curious and interesting. Next, we will analyze the path that neuroethics has traveled, from its origins to its current situation, to get to know it better.
To understand the emergence of neuroethics as a science, it is necessary to take into account the interdisciplinarity present in neuroscience, since it was born from the large number of different disciplines that studied the nervous system.
Over time, the need for understanding between these disciplines has become increasing, accompanied, in turn, by concern for common ethical issues, so the classic problems associated with nervous system functioning and mind-brain relationships were closely related.
To all this we must add the great evolution, in a short time, of bioethics, branch of science focused mainly on ethical aspects related to life sciences, such as biology or medicine, motivating impulse for neuroscientists because it does not want to fall behind.
On the other hand, parallel advances in neuroscience itself have led scientific research lines to move towards issues more related to the inner aspect of the human being, for example, his pathologies or cognitive and emotional functions.
Therefore, the need for discipline that cares about establishing the right precepts to coordinate research in these areas has gradually been created, and so neuroethics was born.
Stanford and California universities organized a meeting in San Francisco, California in 2002 that marked the birth of neuroethics as a scientific discipline. It was during a congress that about 150 neuroscientists attended and at which the foundations of this discipline were laid.
At this meeting experts should agree on their definition and field of study, the result was the following definition:
“The study of ethical, legal and social problems that arise when scientific discoveries about the brain are accounted for in medical practice, legal interpretations and health or social policies. These findings occur in areas ranging from genetics or brain imaging to diagnosing diseases. Should neuroethics examine how doctors, judges and lawyers, executives and politicians of insurance companies, as well as society at large, handle all of these results?
However, while neuroethics has taken its first steps, many aspects remain to be clarified and defined, one example is the fact that almost all discipline referred almost exclusively to diseases of the nervous system.
In addition, another problem is the little attention paid to the prevention and functional aspect of the nervous system, to the detriment of sciences such as psychology. As you can see, there is still a long way to go to achieve a broader and more synthesized vision. vision of this discipline.
The development of neuroethics and its characteristics reflects the evolution of four main areas of work:
Therefore, neuroethics is defined as a multidisciplinary young science, with great projection and long-term work objectives, which is and will be a field of fruitful research. After all, he’s the most purely human.