Seite - 128 - in Cyborg Mind - What Brain–Computer and Mind–Cyberspace Interfaces Mean for Cyberneuroethics

128 • Cyborg Mind is central to the concept of ethics in a civilised society and of democracy. This accepts that citizens have responsibilities and the capacity to make free decisions without being unduly influenced by any external and internal con- straints. For example, without such an assumption, voting in democratic elections would become meaningless.119 Moral Enhancement It has long been acknowledged that the behaviour and even the frame of mind of an individual can be modified through neurological interventions.120 Because of this, some ethicists, such as Julian Savulescu and the Swedish philosopher Ingmar Persson, have suggested that it may be possible in the future to consider moral enhancements that would enable a person to better decide what is right as opposed to what is wrong.121 This way of thinking has its origins in Greek philosophy, with Plato writing: ‘For no man is voluntarily bad; but the bad become bad by reason of an ill disposition of the body and bad education, things which are hateful to every man and happen to him against his will.’122 In this regard, the Swiss-American bioethicist Fabrice Jotterand explains that moral discernment includes: – a moral capacity that can be defined as an ‘ability or disposition to respond morally and involves the motivational, cognitive, and affective mental process determining how one behaves when confronted with moral dilem- mas’; and – a moral content that can be characterised as ‘the set of particular beliefs, values, and ideas shaped by environmental, cultural, and historical factors in addition to rational and moral deliberation and moral theorizing’.123 In other words, moral discernment reflects questions about the role of rea- soning in moral deliberation, including how this is grounded on the neuro- biological as well as psychological makeup of the person and the manner in which what is believed to be good, right and just is defined from a rational perspective.124 For some, moral enhancement seeks to improve moral capacity such as empathy, solidarity, justice, shame, and forgiveness. For others, however, such an enhancement would just seek to address moral dysfunctions such as psychopathy.125 But whatever the understanding of moral enhancement, it may generally be seen as an attractive proposal, since morality is often considered as being desirable and something to which individuals and society should aspire. This means that if it is possible for neuroscientists to identify parts of the brain that seem to be associated with moral decision-making, This open access edition has been made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale.