Journal article
Right to mental integrity and neurotechnologies: implications of the extended mind thesis
- Abstract:
- The possibility of neurotechnological interference with our brain and mind raises questions about the moral rights that would protect against the (mis)use of these technologies. One such moral right that has received recent attention is the right to mental integrity. Though the metaphysical boundaries of the mind are a matter of live debate, most defences of this moral right seem to assume an internalist (brain-based) view of the mind. In this article, we will examine what an extended account of the mind might imply for the right to mental integrity and the protection it provides against neurotechnologies. We argue that, on an extended account of the mind, the scope of the right to mental integrity would expand significantly, implying that neurotechnologies would no longer pose a uniquely serious threat to the right. In addition, some neurotechnologies may even be protected by the right to mental integrity, as the technologies would become part of the mind. We conclude that adopting an extended account of the mind has significant implications for the right to mental integrity in terms of its protective scope and capacity to protect against neurotechnologies, demonstrating that metaphysical assumptions about the mind play an important role in determining the moral protection provided by the right.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 368.7KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1136/jme-2023-109645
Authors
- Publisher:
- BMJ Publishing Group
- Journal:
- Journal of Medical Ethics More from this journal
- Volume:
- 50
- Issue:
- 10
- Pages:
- 656-663
- Publication date:
- 2024-02-26
- Acceptance date:
- 2024-01-14
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
1473-4257
- ISSN:
-
0306-6800
- Pmid:
-
38408854
- Language:
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English
- Pubs id:
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1655863
- Local pid:
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pubs:1655863
- Deposit date:
-
2024-03-05
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Tesink et al.
- Copyright date:
- 2024
- Rights statement:
- © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
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