The New Brain Sciences Perils and Prospects

The last twenty years have seen huge advances in our understanding of how the brain works. Researchers are now trying to understand the nature of consciousness itself. This collection represents an accessible attempt to expose and question research boundaries of what is ethically, socially and legally acceptable in neuroscience research.

The last 20 years have seen an explosion of research and development in the neurosciences. Indeed, some have called this first decade of the 21st century 'the decade of the mind'. An all-encompassing term, the neurosciences cover such fields as biology, psychology, neurology, psychiatry and philosophy and include anatomy, physiology, molecular biology, genetics and behaviour. It is now a major industry with billions of dollars of funding invested from both public and private sectors. Huge progress has been made in our understanding of the brain and its functions. However, with progress comes controversy, responsibility and dilemma. The New Brain Sciences: Perils and Prospects examines the implications of recent discoveries in terms of our sense of individual responsibility and personhood. With contributing chapters from respected and influential names in neuroscience, law, psychology, philosophy and sociology, The New Brain Sciences should kick-start a discussion of where neuroscience is headed.

List of contributors; Part I. Introduction: the new brain sciences Steven Rose; Part II. Freedom to Change: 1. Do we ever really act? Mary Midgley; 2. The definition of human nature Merlin W. Donald; 3. Consciousness and the limits of neurobiology Hilary Rose; 4. Mind metaphors, neurosciences and ethics Regine Kollek; 5. Genetic and generic determinism, a new threat to free will? Peter Lipton; Part III. Neuroscience and the Law: 6. Human action, neuroscience and the law Alexander McCall Smith; 7. Responsibility and the law Stephen Sedley; 8. Programmed or licensed to kill? The new biology of femicide Lorraine Radford; 9. Genes, responsibility and the law Patrick Bateson; Part IV. Stewardship of the New Brain Sciences: 10. The neurosciences: the danger that we will think we have understood it all Yadin Dudai; 11. On dissecting the genetic basis of behaviour and intelligence Angus Clarke; 12. Prospects and perils of stem cell repair of the central nervous system: a brief guide to current science Helen Hodges, Iris Reuter and Helen Pilcher; 13. The use of human embryonic stem cells for research: an ethical evaluation Guido de Wert; 14. The Prozac story John Cornwell; 15. Psychopharmacology at the interface between the market and the new biology David Healy; 16. Education in the age of Ritalin Paul Cooper; Part V. Conclusion: Conclusion Dai Rees and Barbro Westerholm; References; Index.

A critical examination of recent discoveries in the neurosciences, from the point of what is socially, ethically and legally acceptable. Aimed at scientific researchers and lay audiences alike, The New Brain Sciences: Perils and Prospects is written in a style accessible to all.

Sir Dai Rees is Knight Bachelor, a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and a founding Fellow of the Royal Academy of Medicine. He was President of theEuropean Science Foundation (1993-1999) and Secretary and Chief Executive of the UK Medical Research Council (1987-1996). He has now retired.
Professor Steven Rose has been Professor of Biology and Director of the Brain and Behaviour Research Group at the Open University since the inception of the university in 1969. His research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of learning and memory.