Implanted Minds: The Neuroethics of Intracerebral Stem Cell Transplantation and Deep Brain Stimulation

Intracerebral interventions raise special ethical problems. Examples are attempts at replacing lost or altered brain cells with the help of stem cells or the therapeutic application of Deep Brain Stimulation. Many medically relevant questions and ethical concerns have to be clarified before these intracerebral interventions can become routine: If the brain is conceived as the carrier of an individualrs"s personality or of the self then operations on the brain can be seen as intrusions upon oners"s personality. The book addresses historical, philosophical, social, and legal implications of these new developments in the neurosciences and aims at resolving some of the dilemmas that go hand in hand with implanted minds.Heiner Fangerau is the director of the Institute of the History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine at Ulm University, Germany.Jorg M. Fegert is the director of the department for child and adolescent psychiatry at Ulm University, Germany.Thorsten Trapp is a senior researcher at the Institute of Transplantation Diagnostics and Cell Therapeutics at Duuml;sseldorf University, Germany.