RT Article
T1 Judging the Secret Thoughts of All: Functional Neuroimaging, ‘Brain Reading’, and the Theological Ethics of Privacy
JF Studies in Christian ethics
VO 34
IS 1
SP 17
OP 35
A1 Messer, Neil
LA English
PB Sage
YR 2021
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1747360236
AB Of the many futuristic prospects offered by neuroscience, one of the more controversial is ‘brain reading’: the use of functional neuroimaging to gain information about subjects’ mental states or thoughts. This technology has various possible applications, including ‘neuromarketing’ and lie detection. Would such applications violate subjects’ privacy rights? Conversely, if God knows and judges all our secret thoughts, do Christians have any stake in defending a right to mental privacy? This article argues that God’s knowledge of us is different not only in degree but in kind from the knowledge sought through brain reading. This view of divine knowledge supports a theological account of privacy, richer and broader in scope than standard accounts of privacy rights, which can aid the ethical analysis of the use of brain reading technology for purposes such as marketing and lie detection.
K1 Privacy
K1 Neuromarketing
K1 Neuroethics
K1 Lie detection
K1 functional neuroimaging
K1 Dietrich Bonhoeffer
K1 Brain reading
DO 10.1177/0953946820910328