Interdisciplinary research in the latter portion of the 20th Century produced tremendous growth in our abilities to analyze and understand the brain. Advances in brain imaging and monitoring, coupled with technology developments in cognitive enhancement and brain stimulation gave rise to previously unrealized possibilities in augmenting human cognition. As these areas of research develop it is critical that the ethical and societal implications of such technologies are not overshadowed by the rapid scientific progress. The University of Central Florida Ethics Center Initiative (ECI) is hosting a one-day workshop bringing together scholars and practitioners in support of developing a dialogue in this important area. Offering a variety of formats, from lecture presentations to case study analysis, and centered around an interdisciplinary panel discussion, this ECI workshop is designed to facilitate both critical thinking and informed discussion in the spirit of interdisciplinary scholarship.
Panel participants include
Andy Clark
Chair in Logic and Metaphysics
University of Edinburgh
Jeffrey M. Bradshaw
Senior Research Scientist
Florida Institute for Human
and Machine Cognition
Richard Shusterman
Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar
Chair in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy
Florida Atlantic University
Nita Farahany
Law and Philosophy
Vanderbilt University
Dennis McBride
President, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies
Georgetown University
John Tresch
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
The panel and workshop will take place in Room 112, Partnership II Building in Research Park starting at 1pm following lunch and morning presentations starting at 10am. These include:
Andrew Terjesen (Rhodes College): Extending Sympathy and Creating the General Point of View
Heidi Morrison Ravven (Hamilton College): Rethinking Ethics in the Light of Recent Neuroscience with the Help of Spinoza
Sean Hermanson (Florida International University): A Body of One’s Own: Wannabe amputees and intermodal binding
Madeline Muntersbjorn (University of Toledo): Hydranencephaly and Conscious CareFor more information, and to register to attend the workshop, contact Stephen Fiore (sfiore@ist.ucf.edu).
The workshop follows an interdisciplinary conference on Cognition: Embodied, Embedded, Enactive, Extended (20-24 October 2007) -- see conference website at www.philosophy.ucf.edu/eeee.html
