ESTONIAN ACADEMY
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TRAMES cover
TRAMES. A Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences
ISSN 1736-7514 (Electronic)
ISSN 1406-0922 (Print)
Impact Factor (2022): 0.2
IS NEURO-ENHANCEMENT UNNATURAL AND DOES IT MORALLY MATTER?; pp. 188–203
PDF | DOI: 10.3176/tr.2011.2.07

Author
Helena Siipi
Abstract
Neuro-enhancement refers to the use of applications of modern neurosciences to make people better – smarter, happier, more sociable etc. This paper consists of analyses on claims concerning unnaturalness of neuro-enhancement. In what sense, if any, is neuro-enhancement unnatural? If neuro-enhancement is unnatural, is its unnaturalness morally noteworthy? Four possible senses of naturalness are analyzed: naturalness as normality, naturalness as suitability, naturalness as belonging, and naturalness as familiarity. None of these interpretations offers sufficient support for the view that neuro-enhancement is morally problematic because of its unnaturalness.
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