The Bionic Brain: Pragmatic Neuroethics and the Moral Plausibility of Cognitive Enhancement

Abstract

The seemingly infinite possibilities of contemporary neuroscience span from the augmentation of memory, executive function, appetite, libido, sleep, and mood, to the maturation and development of emotional health and personality. These prospects hint at the capacity to alter neurocognitive conceptions of reality. They also mark the unavoidable inculcation of nuanced individual responses, perhaps radical, to these “tailormade” perceptions. Hence, there exists certain neuroethical, and even more generally, existential risks within this fascinating and expeditious enterprise. The primary question in the context of present-day neurotechnology is not what can be done, but what should be. To that end, this paper examines the concepts of memory, executive function, and emotional health and personality in the context of neurocognitive enhancement and posits the argument that neurocognitive enhancement can be justified as morally plausible in its potential to edify the caliber of overall cognition, and thus contribute to the ability to make pragmatically, robust moral decisions on the conditions that it (1) promotes general moral character, (2) compliments human nature, and (3) effects a deeper sense of individual and social identity.