NEUROETHICS | Neuroethics at Penn Overview

Welcome to the website of the University of Pennsylvania’s Neuroethics Program. We are a group of faculty and students from departments spanning the Schools of Arts and Sciences, Medicine, Law and Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania, whose work addresses the ethical, legal and social implications of neuroscience. In addition to our research and writing, we teach courses on neuroethics, host a talk series on neuroethics, and post our publications on an open access website.

History

Penn was an early participant in the new field of neuroethics. In February of 2002 we held a small meeting on "Bioethics and the Cognitive Neuroscience Revolution", organized jointly by two centers at Penn, the Center for Bioethics and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. Joshua Greene, Steven Hyman and Steven Pinker joined Penn’s own Art Caplan, Anjan Chatterjee, Martha Farah, Stephen Morse, Chuck O’Brien and Paul Root Wolpe for a day of talks on the emerging ethical, legal and social implications of neuroscience. Much discussion ensued, and it became clear that Penn had a community of faculty and students ready to work together on neuroethics.

Over the subsequent years we have worked with each other and with colleagues elsewhere to understand the complex issues of neuroethics and promote understanding of them among professionals and the lay public. Penn neuroethics faculty have spoken and published widely on neuroethics, and played a key role in the founding of the new Neuroethics Society.

Click on the headlines to read more about these exciting new developments!

Sahakian to visit Penn Neuroethics Program as a Penn Distinguished International Scholar (02/2008)

Science Progress, a new journal edited by Penn neuroethicist (01/2008)

Penn neuroethicists discuss neuroscience and the law on National Public Radio's Justice Talking (01/2008)

David Kopf Neuroethics Lecture at SfN given by Penn Professor (11/2007)

Penn Bioethics Journal and Neuroethics Society announce Undergraduate Prize

Penn participates in new MacArthur Foundation Law and Neuroscience Project (10/2007)

Penn neuroethicists featured in Wired Science TV program on Brain-based Lie Detection (10/2007)

Two new faculty bolster Penn Neuroethics Program (08/2007)

Education

Penn faculty have developed and taught a number of different courses on neuroethics to undergraduates and graduate students (see syllabi from Farah, Morse and Wolpe on neuroethics.upenn.edu’s Course Syllabi page).

Sahakian to visit Penn Neuroethics Program as a Penn Distinguished International Scholar [back to top]

Professor Barbara Sahakian of the University of Cambridge, an authority on psychopharmacology and cognitive enhancement, will spend two weeks at Penn as one of the university’s Distinguished International Scholars. Barbara’s visit, to be scheduled for 2009, will include extensive opportunities to interact with Penn students in classes and other events. Both students and faculty are eagerly awaiting her visit!

Penn neuroethicist Jonathan Moreno is the Editor-in-Chief of a new magazine on science, policy and ethics, dedicated to “the propositions that scientific inquiry is among the finest expressions of human excellence, that it is a crucial source of human flourishing, a critical engine of economic growth, and must be dedicated to the common good. Scientific inquiry entails global responsibilities. It should lead to a more equitable, safer, and healthier future for all of humankind.” Neuroethics is among the topics covered by Science Progress, a project of the Center for American Progress, a Washington, DC-based think tank. Science Progress, which includes a blog, columns, longer articles, interviews and book review, has been online since October 2007 and makes its print debut in April of 2008.

Penn neuroethicists discuss neuroscience and the law on National Public Radio's Justice Talking [back to top]

Check out the fascinating show on “Neurolaw: The New Frontier,” in which Penn’s Stephen Morse and Paul Root Wolpe discuss the use and misuse of neuroscience in legal contexts. The show can be heard at http://www.justicetalking.org/viewprogram.asp?progID=643

David Kopf Neuroethics Lecture at SfN given by Penn Professor [back to top]

Penn’s Martha Farah delivered the annual David Kopf Neuroethics Lecture to an audience of 3,000 neuroscientists at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego. In the lecture, “21st Century Neuroscience: From Lab and Clinic to Home, School and Office,” Martha argued that neuroscience is increasing being applied to nonmedical problems, a development that is almost without precedent in previous centuries. She presented examples of neuroscience applications in education, law and corrections, marketing, entertainment and warfare, and discussed the new challenges that these developments present us with as a society.

Penn Bioethics Journal and Neuroethics Society announce Undergraduate Prize [back to top]

The Penn Bioethics Journal, an undergraduate journal publishing the work of students from around the world, has partnered with the Neuroethics Society to offer the first Undergraduate Writing Prize in Neuroethics. More information about the journal and the prize are available at http://www.bioethicsjournal.com/.

Penn participates in new MacArthur Foundation Law and Neuroscience Project [back to top]

Penn neuroethicists are among the distinguished group of scientists, legal scholars, jurists, and philosophers from across the country who will help integrate new developments in neuroscience into the U.S. legal system. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Law and Neuroscience Project is the first systematic effort to bridge the fields of law and neuroscience, supported by an initial, three-year $10 million grant from the foundation. Based at UC Santa Barbara, the project consists of three working groups, one of which is co-directed by Stephen Morse and includes Martha Farah, Chuck O'Brien, Amy Wax, and Adrian Raine. Our working group will focus on issues of responsibility in the context of neuroscience’s growing understanding of addiction and the neural determinants of behavior in normal and drug-addicted individuals.

Penn neuroethicists featured in Wired Science TV program on Brain-based Lie Detection [back to top]

Two new faculty bolster Penn Neuroethics Program [back to top]

As part of Penn’s new “Penn Integrates Knowledge” program, the university has recruited two interdisciplinary scholars whose work encompasses important issues in neuroethics.

Jonathan Moreno joined the Departments of Medical Ethics and History and Sociology of Science as the David and Lyn Silfen University Professor earlier this year. He received his B.A. in Philosophy and Psychology from Hofstra University in 1973, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Washington University in 1977. Before coming to Penn he was a professor of biomedical ethics and director of the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Virginia. In addition to his appointment at Penn, Jonathan is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D. C., and an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. Jonathan’s recent work focuses on two emerging issues in neuroethics: the role of the military in funding, influencing and applying neuroscience research, and the novel ethical issues arising in connection with human-nonhuman neural chimera.

Adrian Raine joined the Departments of Criminology and Psychiatry as the Richard Perry University Professor. He received his bachelors and masters degrees in experimental psychology from Oxford University and his doctorate in psychology from York University. Before his arrival at Penn, he was a professor of psychology and neuroscience at the University of Southern California. He is internationally renowned for his integration of biological and social perspectives on the prediction and explanation of violent behavior. His discoveries have identified brain structures, nutritional influences, genetic factors and social environments that foster violent criminal tendencies. Adrian is continuing his work on the neurobiology of antisocial behavior, including investigations of the neural bases of normal and abnormal moral reasoning, and the ethical, legal and social implications of “neurocriminology.”