An Exploration of the Societal Impact of Neuroethics in Scientific and General Communities

Neuroethics serves as a roadmap for maneuvering the difficult and often personal concerns that arise concurrently with advancements in neuroscience. It is important to consider these issues at present and to take a proactive, rather than reactive, approach towards assuaging fears and hesitations related to the quickening applications of neuroscience into the non-scientific community. This Capstone explores recent suggestions made by prominent scholars in the neuroethics field related to the integration of neuroscience into society. Three cogent issues in neuroscience are discussed, with a focus on the possible effects that neuroscientific advancements have on society. Using a framework of human enhancement, which is a pressing philosophical question facing society today, this Capstone explores the fundamental and crucial nature that neuroethics plays in the regulation of scientific practice. Seving as a roadmap for the next decade of science, neuroethics intimately links concerns of privacy, social justice, and a protection of the greater good. With the understanding that society has reached a point in which science is accessible by those outside of the professional scientific community, the Capstone focuses on the development of an intimate connection between science and society with the hope that expanded discussion will serve to highlight the foundations of neuroethical guidelines.