New developments in neuroscience, especially since the ‘decade of the brain’,
have made neuroenhancement an important domain of philosophical reflection.
Neuroenhancement is usually understood as any intervention on the brain that aims to improve its capabilities beyond clinical therapy and good health (better intellectual performance, abler minds, and even happier persons). It is the ability to use certain resources (natural, social or technological), not for a clear therapeutic purpose, but to develop human capacities of healthy individuals, such as mood, cognitive, and moral functions.
In this presentation, we will discuss the impact on personal identity of these
scientific and technological interventions in the brain. Prozac, a psychotropic drug, will be used as a reference point, because it constitutes a landmark in the history of psychiatry.
We will develop a line of argumentation that goes back to Paul Ricœur’s philosophy, especially his thought developed in Soi-même comme un autre, where he established the difference between sameness and selfhood. It will be argued that, at present, the neurotechnological manipulation of the self affects the personality, but not the sense of the self, which seems to mean that there is no radical change in personal identity. As Ricœur sustains, selfhood, although historical and temporal, persists throughout a person's life. Some clinical cases reported by Peter D. Kramer in his book Listening to Prozac will be analyzed through the thought of Paul Ricœur, and it will be defended that, even if the personality drastically changes with brain interventions, and if the same sense
of self is maintained, this seems to mean that personal identity does not change. So, until the moment, there is no need to fear the total dissipation of personal identity with artificial brain manipulation. It will also be sustained that this thesis should be extended to any intervention in the human brain (pharmacological, electrical and deep stimulation) provided, until now, by biotechnology.
Finally, Paul Ricœur's philosophy will also allow us to critically rethink the
emergence of a new attempt to ground personal identity in two domains in increasing evolution, genetics and neurosciences. We will mainly focus on neurosciences, highlighting its tendency to form a neurobiology of personal identity and to create a neural ground of that philosophical concept by reducing it to brain functions. Based on Ricœur’s thought, we will criticize this neuroreductionist attempt, and we will offer philosophical arguments for acknowledging several dimensions of personal identity which are not subsumed in a neurobiological approach.
| Period | 14 Oct 2023 |
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| Event title | 17th Annual Society for Ricoeur Studies Conference: Ricoeur in Practice |
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| Event type | Conference |
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| Location | Toronto, CanadaShow on map |
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| Degree of Recognition | PhD |
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- Neuroenhancement; Neuroreductionism; Paul Ricoeur, Personal Identity, Prozac
