, Tom BullerIt is often suggested that advances in neurosciences will force us to re-think our customary notions of personal identity and personality. In this paper, we study a number of philosophical positions on these notions, especially in connection with mentally degenerative illnesses and neural grafting. We conclude that while the possible future treatments are likely to change the personalities and personal identities of patients, these changes will not pose any new challenges to the notions of personal identity and personality.
Anderson, R. A. et al. (2004) “Cognitive neural prosthetics”. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 8, 486–493.
doi:10.1016/j.tics.2004.09.009
Birnbacher, D (1995) “Identität der Persönlichkeit and Identität der Person: Philosophische Fragen im Zusammenhang mit der Transplantation von Hirngewege“. Zentralblatt für Neurochirurgie 56, 180–185.
Clark, Andy and David Chalmers (1998) “The extended mind”. Analysis 58, 7–19.
doi:10.1111/1467-8284.00096
Clark, Andy (2005) “Intrinsic content, active memory and the extended mind”. Analysis 65, 1–11.
doi:10.1111/j.1467-8284.2005.00514.x
Dworkin, Ronald (1994) Life’s dominion, an argument about abortion, euthanasia, and individual freedom. (Vintage Books.) New York : Knopf.
Gillon, Raanan (1996) “Editorial, brain transplantation, personal identity and medical ethics”. Journal of Medical Ethics 22, 131–132.
doi:10.1136/jme.22.3.131
Hansson, Sven Ove (2005) “Implant ethics”. Journal of Medical Ethics 31,519–525.
doi:10.1136/jme.2004.009803
Hochberg, Leigh R. et al. (2006) “Neuronal ensemble control of prosthetic devices by a human with tetraplegia”. Nature 442, 164–171.
doi:10.1038/nature04970
Lipsman, N., R. Zener, and Mark Bernstein (2009) “Personal identity, enhancement and neurosurgery: a qualitative study in applied neuroethics”. Bioethics 23, 6,375–383.
doi:10.1111/j.1467-8519.2009.01729.x
McGuire Jr., G. Q. and Ellen McGee (1999) “Implantable brain chips? Time for debate”. Hastings Center Report 29 1, 7–13.
Nagel, Thomas (1986) The view from nowhere. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nelson, J. L. (2003) Hippocrates maze, ethical explorations of the medical labyrinth. Lanham, Maryland: Rowan and Littlefield.
Northoff, Georg (1996) “Do brain tissue transplants alter personal identity? Inadequasies of some ‘standard’ arguments”. Journal of Medical Ethics 22, 174–180.
doi:10.1136/jme.22.3.174
Okano, Hideyuki and Sawamoto Kazunobu (2008) “Neural stem cells, involvement in adult neurogenesis and CNS repair”. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B363, 2111–2122.
doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.2264
Olson, E. T. (1997) The human animal, personal identity without psychology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Olson, E. T. (2010) “Ethics and the generous ontology”. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 31, 4, 259–270.
doi:10.1007/s11017-010-9148-7
Parens, Erik (2005) “Authenticity and ambivalence”. Hastings Center Report 35, 3, 34–41.
doi:10.1353/hcr.2005.0067
Parfit, Derek (1984) Reasons and persons. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
