Skip to content

Precautionary Principle and Post-Mortem Brain Resuscitation.

Brandon Long, David Resnik

Neuroethics August 1, 2025 DOI: 10.1007/s12152-025-09605-5 (opens in new tab)

Read Full Text
Relevant Not relevant

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed
Topics Philosophy of mind
Keywords Bioethics Moral philosophy
Key points Argues that the Precautionary Principle should be applied to all postmortem brain research to mitigate the risk of causing suffering, and proposes practical precautions such as anesthetics, cingulotomies, and opioids.

Abstract

Recent advancements in brain research have drastically increased the need for serious ethical consideration. Postmortem brain research has taken a significant step in the development of BrainEx. The technology can metabolically resuscitate pig brains from pigs that were "clinically dead" for hours. Ethical discourse around organoids ranges from being overly cautious and sensational to highly permissive and skeptical of even minimal consciousness emerging in such a model. Some of these criticisms are allayed in postmortem brains. As such, postmortem brain research presents philosophers and policymakers with a higher risk model of being conscious. The outcome of researchers unknowingly subjecting postmortem brains to negative mental states through research will be termed brain-in-a-vat-world. We will provide some motivation to believe this is a reasonable outcome of proceeding with postmortem brain research. As such, we propose applying the PP to all postmortem brain research. These precautions go beyond previous precautions of brain activity monitoring and the willingness to administer anesthetics to the brains should they appear awake. These precautions aim to avoid potential negative mental states. Such precautions reasonably mitigate the risk of postmortem brain research causing suffering. We recommend several practical precautions. First, anesthetics may prevent any conscious experience at all, cingulotomies prevent painful experiences, and the administration of opioids may prevent boredom or isolation. IRBs should work to determine how these precautions interact with experimental outcomes and how to balance the risk of side effects in light of the experimentation period. The upshot of the article is such PP applications avoid overapplication of the PP, which has occurred in the brain organoid literature. Further, the PP, we argue, provides better guidance to precautionary policy than decision theory, given the difficulties with applying decision theory in medical ethics.

Comparable studies

Other theoretical and historical papers on philosophy of mind, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: a framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia. 2003 Theoretical or philosophical paper
From dopamine to salience to psychosis--linking biology, pharmacology and phenomenology of psychosis. 2005 Theoretical or philosophical paper
How do the brain's time and space mediate consciousness and its different dimensions? Temporo-spatial theory of consciousness (TTC). 2017 Theoretical or philosophical paper
The phenomenology of deep brain stimulation-induced changes in OCD: an enactive affordance-based model. 2013 Theoretical or philosophical paper
Looking for the Self: Phenomenology, Neurophysiology and Philosophical Significance of Drug-induced Ego Dissolution 2017 Theoretical or philosophical paper

Citations in the library

Cites 16

and 11 more in the library

Related reading

Explore topics

Philosophy of mind