Tutorial: Ethics and Neuroscience - Detailseite

Neuroscientific research has made rapid progress in recent years, leading to a deeper understanding of how the human brain works, developing novel treatments for neurological diseases, and finding ways to enhance brain function. While these scientific achievements are undoubtedly groundbreaking, they have also raised countless ethical issues that are the subject of much controversy today. In this seminar, students will explore key topics that have emerged at the intersection of ethics and neuroscience. In the first part of the course – the ethics of neuroscience – students will engage vital ethical questions that arise from our growing understanding of the brain and our increasing ability to monitor and intervene in brain function. In particular, students will investigate questions such as: to what extent, if at all, is cognitive enhancement morally permissible? Might we even have a moral obligation to enhance human cognitive function? What ethical issues arise with technologies such as (adaptive) deep brain stimulation, designed to treat neurological diseases by profoundly interfering with brain processes? Through discussion of these questions, students will learn about the various ways in which neuroscience can benefit from ethical reflection. Conversely, the second part of the course – the neuroscience of ethics – explores in what ways traditional debates in applied and normative ethics can benefit from recent advances in neuroscience. For example, does neuroscientific evidence show that we have no free will, which many philosophers consider an essential component of moral responsibility? In addition to gaining insights into central topics within both neuroscience and ethics, throughout the course students will also familiarize themselves with key methods of philosophical writing and argumentation, thus acquiring the fundamental tools to approach their own research questions.

Please know that you can only register for this tutorial if you have already attended the Winterschool during February 2024!

External master students (i.e. master students of other programs of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, master students of other universities in Berlin or Brandenburg, or people not enrolled at a university in Berlin or Brandenburg at all) may acquire credits in the “Mind and Brain” Master's program only in the following way:

Winterschool on Ethics and Neuroscience (intensive course in mid-February) + tutorial (in the following summer semester): 5 ECTS
Requirements: Regular attendance of both parts of the course plus an essay in the tutorial at the end of the summer semester