Developmental neuroethics

Abstract

This introduction outlines the six chapters in the section “Development Neuroethics”. The neurotechnologies, treatments and enhancements of earlier Handbook sections are applicable to people of all ages. Few of the ethical dilemmas of research and clinical practice are specific to subjects or patients at a particular stage of life. Philosophical problems of mind, brain and identity are no more or less puzzling where children are concerned. Why, then, devote a separate section of a neuroethics handbook to developmental neuroethics? One reason is that neuroethical issues that have been well explored in relation to adults often acquire new twists when the people involved are children. For example, where psychiatric treatment and enhancement are concerned, children’s interests are generally entrusted to parents and other adults. This introduces new opportunities for conflicts of interest that we do not encounter with adults, involving for example the desire that parents and teachers may have for more peaceful homes and classrooms (▶Chap. 106, “Neuroethical Issues in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Children with Mood and Behavioral Disturbances” by Johnston & Parens).