Neuroethics and neuroscience

Abstract

The debate about the ethical aspects surrounding the brain is growing these days and consequently the sciences directly related to it covered by neurosciences. Neuroethics is a recent field linked to the intersection of bioethics and neuroscience, and its advances raise ethical questions. The aim of this article is to verify and to comment important aspects of neuroethics. It was accomplished to critically review the literature. Ethics applied to areas related to neurosciences needs criteria that will serve as reference to consider variables and judge circumstances; the recent advances in neuroscience raise important ethical questions that need to be discussed and observed by Neuroethics; there is a need to defi ne the boundaries between the use of technologies and therapies to treat an ill patient and usages only to improve the performance of normal healthy individuals. Recent progress on cognitive neuroscience brings important ethical, practical, technological, philosophical, spiritual and moral questions to society.

Key words: bioethics, neuroscience, health, neuropsychology.