Neuroscience & Society Series
Series Editor: Gregory E. Kaebnick
Funder: Dana Foundation
Start date: January 2023
The Hastings Center Report is publishing a series of 18 open-access articles and essays on the ethical, legal, and social implications of new findings in neuroscience. The series fosters dynamic, sustained conversation among neuroscience researchers and legal and ethics scholars with one another, policymakers, and wider publics.
Building on existing neuroethics while also drawing in new perspectives, with a structured process that is adaptable to new developments and insights as they arise, the series aims to support the iterative, incremental development of a body of work that helps fulfill the goals laid out in the BRAIN Neuroethics Subgroup’s 2019 “roadmap” of informing neuroscientists about the ethical implications of their work, informing ethicists of trends and developments in neuroscience, and engaging the public about neuroethics—ensuring that neuroscience informs and reflects society.
Development of the Series is led by two scholars at Hastings: Gregory E. Kaebnick, who has worked extensively on the ethics of emerging technologies and is editor of the Hastings Center Report, serves as series editor. Erik Parens, a senior research scholar who has written about how technologies intersect with human nature and influence human flourishing, assists with planning and review of manuscripts.
The Hastings team collaborates with a steering committee of neuroscientists and scholars in neuroethics to develop and revise editorial plans—articulating topics, identifying potential authors, developing editorial strategies to ensure the desired focus, breadth, and flexibility in the series, and assisting Hastings in soliciting and reviewing submissions to the series.
Call for Papers
One component of the series will be several sets of essays on ethical and social issues in using neurotechnology to make inferences about mental states. Submissions for these sets are encouraged. Among topics appropriate for these sets are
- how inferences about mental states are shaped by understandings of normality,
- how understandings of humanity are shaped by neurotechnology,
- how objective inferences about mental states relate to subjective reports,
- social justice implications of neurotechnologies for making inferences about mental states, and
- mental privacy and neurorights.
Submissions should be between 1,000 and 5,000 words, offer novel ethical analysis, and be accessible to a wide readership. Submission and authors’ guidelines can be found here. Submission by January 31, 2025, is encouraged; however, later submissions will still be considered. Pre-submission inquiries are acceptable and may be sent to Gregory E. Kaebnick, kaebnickg@thehastingscenter.org.
Learn more about who edits the series, how to submit to the series, and to read articles published in the series.