Erlebnis, Erwartung und Ethik (Experience, Expectation, and Ethics)

Abstract

The cover image, ‘Erlebnis, Erwartung und Ethik (Experience, Expectation, and Ethics)’ strives to combine the facts and possibilities of science, explanatory fictions, fantasies and fears of society, and contemplative dimensions of imagination, philosophy and ethics. The motifs seek to depict evolution and practices of neuroethics within the Circle of Sciences, to entail both the neurological basis of ethical thought, and the ethical consideration of neurosceintific progress. In this way, neuroethics merges classical notions of philosophy and ethics (viz.-the imagery of the antiquarian sculpted bust), our ongoing, however limited attempts and approaches to explain the mind (viz.-the phrenologic template and the circuitry of the computational model), and the impetus to engage, manipulate, and enhance our brain, mind and selves, both through novel uses of older, existing technologies (e.g.the optical lens-eye), and the yoking of these technologies—and the human being—to new inventions (as in human-machine interfacing, characterized by the cyborg). While many of the more extreme iterations of such ideas have transand post-human implications, and are the stuff of “Steampunk” and “Cyberpunk” fantasy, we cannot forget that our future visions, dreams and fears are often revealed in art. In fact, science, philosophy, ethics and the artifacts and societies we have created (and could create) are all the stuff of our mental capabilities, as is the potential for a utopian or dystopian future. At the core of each and all points of philosophical and neuroethical discussion is the human brain itself, which while the source of our thoughts and emotions thoughout history, remains only partially accessible to our investigations, and in this way reminds us of the contingent truths of neuroscience and the importance of neuroethics in negotiating these contingencies. Neuroethics (2009) 2:113 DOI 10.1007/s12152-009-9035-y