Neuroethics questions to guide ethical research in the international brain initiatives

Journal article

Increasingly, national governments across the globe are prioritizing investments in neuroscience. Currently, seven active or in-development national-level brain research initiatives exist, spanning four continents. Engaging with the underlying values and ethical concerns that drive brain research across cultural and continental divides is critical to future research. Culture influences what kinds of science are supported and where science can be conducted through ethical frameworks and evaluations of risk. Neuroscientists and philosophers alike have found themselves together encountering perennial questions; these questions are engaged by the field of neuroethics, related to understanding of the nature of the self and identity, the existence and meaning of free will, defining the role of reason in human behavior, and more. With this Perspective article, we aim to prioritize and advance to the foreground a list of neuroethics questions for neuroscientists operating in the context of these international brain initiatives.

Authors: Delegates, G; Rommelfanger, K; Jeong, S; Ema, A; Fukushi, T

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Journal: Neuron
• Volume: 100
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 19-36
• Publication date: 2018-10-10
• Acceptance date: 2018-09-11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.09.021
• EISSN: 1097-4199
• ISSN: 0896-6273
• Pmid: 30308169
• Language: English
• Keywords: science and society; responsible research innovation; culture; neuroethics; Buddhism; cross-cultural neuroethics; global neuroscience; international brain initiative; brain projects; Confucianism