Neuroethics: The Implications of Mapping and Changing the Brain

by Walter Glannon

Overview

An examination of ethical issues in recording and intervening in the brain, and the neurobiological basis of moral decision-making.

Neuroethics is an introduction to the main ethical and legal issues in six areas of experimental and clinical neuroscience: neuroimaging; disorders of consciousness; brain death; cognitive and moral enhancement; the neurobiological basis of moral reasoning; and neural prosthetics. The book is distinctive in offering a comprehensive discussion of the main issues in the ethics of neuroscience and the neuroscience of ethics that have developed over the last 25 years.

Walter Glannon captures the historical, current, and future-oriented aspects of neuroethics and discusses emerging issues like the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in diagnostic and predictive neuroimaging, brain organoids, and neural prosthetics, as well as neurorights to protect information about people’s brains.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262384933
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	11/11/2025
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	294

About the Author

Walter Glannon is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Calgary. His main areas of interest are bioethics and neuropsychiatry. He is the author or editor of 15 books.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“In Neuroethics, Walter Glannon offers a comprehensive, rigorous, yet approachable scholarly introduction to the field of neuroethics. Readers will enjoy learning about the history of the field and key questions in neuroethics, and this book is peppered with relevant and astonishing insights from landmark cases and studies in neuroscience, philosophy, neurology, law, and psychology. Glannon’s unmatched expertise brings a humanistic vision of neuroscience.”
—Eric Racine, Professor of Health Ethics, Montreal Clinical Research Institute and Université de Montréal

“Walter Glannon has been a key scholar of neuroethics from the beginning, helping to identify and understand the ethical questions and to map and critique the key arguments emerging in this young field. His latest book offers readers an up-to-date overview of thinking on the main topics in neuroethics, addressing the clinical, justice, and broader sociopolitical implications of evolving brain sciences and technologies.”
—Jennifer Chandler, Canada Research Chair in the Law and Ethics of Brain Technologies, University of Ottawa