Hardback : $140.00
The Neuroethics of Memory is a thematically integrated analysis and discussion of neuroethical questions about memory capacity and content, as well as interventions to alter it. These include: how does memory function enable agency, and how does memory dysfunction disable it? To what extent is identity based on our capacity to accurately recall the past? Could a person who becomes aware during surgery be harmed if they have no memory of the experience? How do we weigh the benefits and risks of brain implants designed to enhance, weaken or erase memory? Can a person be responsible for an action if they do not recall it? Would a victim of an assault have an obligation to retain a memory of this act, or the right to erase it? This book uses a framework informed by neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy combined with actual and hypothetical cases to examine these and related questions.
The Neuroethics of Memory is a thematically integrated analysis and discussion of neuroethical questions about memory capacity and content, as well as interventions to alter it. These include: how does memory function enable agency, and how does memory dysfunction disable it? To what extent is identity based on our capacity to accurately recall the past? Could a person who becomes aware during surgery be harmed if they have no memory of the experience? How do we weigh the benefits and risks of brain implants designed to enhance, weaken or erase memory? Can a person be responsible for an action if they do not recall it? Would a victim of an assault have an obligation to retain a memory of this act, or the right to erase it? This book uses a framework informed by neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy combined with actual and hypothetical cases to examine these and related questions.
Introduction; 1. Memory systems and memory stages; 2. Agency, identity and dementia; 3. Anesthesia, amnesia and recall; 4. Disorders of memory content and interventions; 5. Disorders of memory capacity and interventions; 6. Legal issues involving memory; Epilogue. The future of memory.
Provides a thematically integrated analysis and discussion of neuroethical questions about memory capacity, content, and interventions.
Walter Glannon is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Calgary, Canada. He has served as a clinical ethicist at three different hospitals and has held academic appointments at McGill University and the University of British Columbia. He is also the author or editor of ten books, including Free Will and the Brain: Neuroscientific, Philosophical, and Legal Perspectives (Cambridge, 2015).
'Walter Glannon achieves a rare balance: the book is clear and
detailed about the neuroscience of memory and is also insightful
about the legal and ethical challenges that scientific advances
entail. This is a very timely and useful book.' Nick Davis,
Manchester Metropolitan University
'Memory is central to who we are and how we act. Provoking and
thoughtful, The Neuroethics of Memory explores the implications of
the new technologies that could alter memory and may fundamentally
change who we are.' Andrew Davidson, Medical Director, Melbourne
Children's Trials Centre, Australia
'The Neuroethics of Memory provides an insightful and well-argued
analysis of the implications of memory research for ethical issues
that arise in legal and medical arenas. Drawing on literature from
neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, Walter Glannon gracefully
illuminates some of the most difficult issues currently facing
science and society.' Daniel L. Schacter, William R. Kenan, Jr
Professor of Psychology, Harvard University
'Walter Glannon has built a fascinating and wide-ranging account of
memory. By channeling neurobiology, psychology, law, history, and
philosophy, this book summarizes how memory defines who we are and
forms the basis of our society. The result is a tour de force of
neuroethics at its comprehensive best.' Julian Savulescu, Director
of Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of
Oxford
'As a synthesis and critical analysis of current work in several
disciplines, this book offers an unparalleled vision of how
neuroethics scholarship on memory can be interdisciplinary,
rigorous, forward-looking, and compelling.' Eric Racine,
Neuroethics
'For its clear style and its rigorous and sound analytical
arguments, The Neuroethics of Memory is a candidate to become
an indispensable companion for any research on the ethics of memory
and its manipulation.' Andrea Lavazza, Cambridge Quarterly of
Healthcare Ethics
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