CFP: Enhancing Responsibility Conference

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

Roshan Cools, Radboud University Nijmegen

Tom Douglas, University of Oxford

Nita Farahany, Duke University

Masud Husain, University of Oxford

Neil Levy, University of Oxford & Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne

Reinhard Merkel,  Universität Hamburg

Jan Schildmann, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Illina Singh, King’s College London

Just as some medications can enhance physical performance (e.g. of athletes), others allegedly enhance mental performance (e.g. wakefulness, attention, and clarity of thought), and reports from around the world suggest that the use of drugs like methylphenidate and modafinil for cognitive enhancement purposes is on the rise. In addition to surveying what putative cognitive enhancement technologies exist, this conference will interrogate a range of related scientific, legal, political, moral, and personal questions.  Presentations will address the following research questions:

SCIENCE (e.g. psychology, neuroscience, pharmacology, medicine):
• Do any of these cognitive enhancers actually work?
• If so, precisely what kind and degree of effects do they have?
• How do they achieve those effects — i.e. through what mechanisms?
• What might be their short- and long-term (side-)effects?
• Why do people use cognitive enhancers?
• What is the social perception of cognitive enhancement and of enhanced people?

LAW:
• How should society regulate cognitive enhancers? Should they perhaps be banned?
• Might we be negligent if we fail to use cognitive enhancers in some circumstances?
• Should cognitively enhanced people be held to a higher standard of care?

PHILOSOPHY:
• Is it fair if some people enhance themselves while others do not (have access to enhancers)?
• Ought anyone be permitted to enhance themselves if this pressures others to do likewise?
• Are we less praiseworthy for accomplishments attained while cognitively enhanced?
• Does cognitive enhancement threaten authenticity or the self?
• How do problems about cognitive enhancement compare to problems of doping in sports?

500-750 word abstracts for oral and poster presentations (please indicate which) should be emailed to: [email protected] by noon GMT on 3 March  2014.

Applicants will be notified by mid-March 2014 whether their abstract has been accepted.