The Prospects for Neuro-Exceptionalism: Transparent Lies, Naked Minds

Researcher Perspectives on Data Sharing in Deep Brain Stimulation

“…In light of the centrality of various cognitive capacities for prominent theories of personhood (Singer, 1993;Korsgaard, 1996;McMahan, 2002) and recent discussions about how the idea of the brain as the basis of the self applies to issues in DBS in particular (Byram and Reiner, 2014;Mecacci and Haselager, 2014;Racine et al, 2017), a natural question to ask about NAD is whether it may be especially sensitive on this or some other basis. This issue forms part of the broader question of neuro-exceptionalism: whether and to what extent neurotechnologies raise special ethical, legal, social, and policy issues (Illes and Racine, 2005;Schick, 2005;Alpert, 2007;Tovino, 2007;Wachbroit, 2008). Scholars have engaged in analogous discussions regarding HIV exceptionalism (Bayer, 1991;Ross, 2001;April, 2010;O'Hara, 2011) and genetic exceptionalism (Rothstein, 2010;Garrison et al, 2019;Martani et al, 2019).…”

Advancing Neuroregenerative Medicine: a Call for Expanded Collaboration Between Scientists and Ethicists

“…The notion of neuroexceptionalism thus suggests that basic neuroscience research and the translation of this research out of the laboratory and into the clinic poses unique ethical and social challenges that deserve heightened attention because of the brain's special status and the implications of interventions on the brain for privacy, confidentiality and, perhaps most importantly, identity and personhood [28]. Echoing earlier disputes over genetic exceptionalism that figured prominently in public debates over the uses of genetic technology, ethicists are divided over the significance of neuroexceptionalism [61,63].…”

Medicine in a Neurocentric World: About the Explanatory Power of Neuroscientific Models in Medical Research and Practice

“…Additionally, it is noticeable that epistemic strategies for clarifying the personal relatedness of neural information are still unavailable, and this absence is considered as a key problem for neuroexceptionalism (Huber 2009a). Nevertheless, taking the genetic exceptionalism discourse 3 as a precedent, the sensitive nature of neural information, in recent years, has triggered debates on how neuroscience poses unique (neuro) ethical challenges (Illes and Racine 2005;Wachbroit 2008).…”