RT Article
T1 Insight and the no-self in deep brain stimulation
JF Bioethics
VO 33
IS 4
SP 487
OP 494
A1 Sullivan, Laura Specker
LA English
PB Wiley-Blackwell
YR 2019
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1727507878
AB Ethical analyses of the effects of neural interventions commonly focus on changes to personality and behavior, interpreting these changes in terms of authenticity and identity. These phenomena have led to debate among ethicists about the meaning of these terms for ethical analysis of such interventions. While these theoretical approaches have different criteria for ethical significance, they agree that patients’ reports are concerning because a sense of self is valuable. In this paper, I question this assumption. I propose that the Buddhist theory of no-self offers a novel approach to making ethical sense of patients’ claims following deep brain stimulation. This alternative approach is based on the value of insight into patterns of cause and effect among mental states and actions.
K1 Buddhist Philosophy
K1 deep brain stimulation
K1 Narrative Identity
K1 Self
DO 10.1111/bioe.12539