The current revival of interest in classic psychedelics and other psychoactives such as ketamine and MDMA, coupled with changes to their regulatory status in many jurisdictions, necessitates rigorous ethical guidelines both within and beyond clinical and scientific contexts. This paper examines crucial ethical, philosophical, and policy considerations needed to ensure psychedelic use across...
A prominent critique of cognitive or athletic enhancement claims that certain performance-improving drugs or technologies may 'cheapen' resulting achievements. Considerably less attention has been paid to the impact of enhancement on the value of moral achievements. Would the use of moral enhancement (bio)technologies, rather than (solely) 'traditional' means of moral development like schooling...
Wellcome Open ResearchJanuary 13, 2025Samuel Streicher, Christopher Register, Xiu Lim et al.2 citations
Background: Moral bioenhancement typically refers to the deliberate use of drugs or biotechnologies, potentially alongside other practices, to attempt to improve oneself morally. In addition to general concerns regarding moral self-bioenhancement, the possibility of using psychedelic substances for such purposes raises distinct ethical questions. As a first step in analysing these questions, we...
One of the central bioconservative objections to pursuing human enhancement technologies highlights the risk that the development and dissemination of such technologies will exacerbate existing inequalities, with a particular focus on general considerations of distributive justice. This line of objection, typically framed to target cognitive enhancement&s;s potential to exacerbate inequality,...
Abstract Moral enhancement proposals struggle to be both plausible and ethically defensible while nevertheless interestingly distinct from both cognitive enhancement as well as (mere) moral education. Brian Earp ( Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplement 83:415–439, 12) suggests that a promising middle ground lies in focusing on the (suitably qualified) use of psychedelics as adjuncts to moral...