The Neuroethics of Memory: From Total Recall to Oblivion

The Neuroethics of Memory is a thematically integrated analysis and discussion of neuroethical questions about memory capacity and content, as well as interventions to alter it. These include: how does memory function enable agency, and how does memory dysfunction disable it? To what extent is identity based on our capacity to accurately recall the past? Could a person who becomes aware during surgery be harmed if they have no memory of the experience? How do we weigh the benefits and risks of brain implants designed to enhance, weaken or erase memory? Can a person be responsible for an action if they do not recall it? Would a victim of an assault have an obligation to retain a memory of this act, or the right to erase it? This book uses a framework informed by neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy combined with actual and hypothetical cases to examine these and related questions.

Table of Contents:
Introduction; 1. Memory systems and memory stages; 2. Agency, identity and dementia; 3. Anesthesia, amnesia and recall; 4. Disorders of memory content and interventions; 5. Disorders of memory capacity and interventions; 6. Legal issues involving memory; Epilogue. The future of memory.

About the Author :
Walter Glannon is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Calgary, Canada. He has served as a clinical ethicist at three different hospitals and has held academic appointments at McGill University and the University of British Columbia. He is also the author or editor of ten books, including Free Will and the Brain: Neuroscientific, Philosophical, and Legal Perspectives (Cambridge, 2015).

Review :
'Walter Glannon achieves a rare balance: the book is clear and detailed about the neuroscience of memory and is also insightful about the legal and ethical challenges that scientific advances entail. This is a very timely and useful book.' Nick Davis, Manchester Metropolitan University 'Memory is central to who we are and how we act. Provoking and thoughtful, The Neuroethics of Memory explores the implications of the new technologies that could alter memory and may fundamentally change who we are.' Andrew Davidson, Medical Director, Melbourne Children's Trials Centre, Australia 'The Neuroethics of Memory provides an insightful and well-argued analysis of the implications of memory research for ethical issues that arise in legal and medical arenas. Drawing on literature from neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy, Walter Glannon gracefully illuminates some of the most difficult issues currently facing science and society.' Daniel L. Schacter, William R. Kenan, Jr Professor of Psychology, Harvard University 'Walter Glannon has built a fascinating and wide-ranging account of memory. By channeling neurobiology, psychology, law, history, and philosophy, this book summarizes how memory defines who we are and forms the basis of our society. The result is a tour de force of neuroethics at its comprehensive best.' Julian Savulescu, Director of Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford 'As a synthesis and critical analysis of current work in several disciplines, this book offers an unparalleled vision of how neuroethics scholarship on memory can be interdisciplinary, rigorous, forward-looking, and compelling.' Eric Racine, Neuroethics 'For its clear style and its rigorous and sound analytical arguments, The Neuroethics of Memory is a candidate to become an indispensable companion for any research on the ethics of memory and its manipulation.' Andrea Lavazza, Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics