SPECIAL SECTION: NEUROETHICS | |
Cosmetic Neurology and Cosmetic Surgery: Parallels, Predictions, and
Challenges
ANJAN
CHATTERJEE
a1
a1 University of Pennsylvania
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As our knowledge of the functional and pharmacological architecture of
the nervous system increases, we are getting better at treating cognitive
and affective disorders. Along with the ability to modify cognitive and
affective systems in disease, we are also learning how to modify these
systems in health. “Cosmetic neurology,” the practice of
intervening to improve cognition and affect in healthy individuals, raises
several ethical concerns. However, its advent seems inevitable. In this
paper I examine this claim of inevitability by reviewing the evolution of
another medical practice, cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic surgery also enhances
healthy people and, despite many critics, it is practiced widely. Can we
expect the same of cosmetic neurology? The claim of inevitability poses a
challenge for both physicians and bioethicists. How will physicians
reconsider their professional role? Will bioethicists influence the shape
of cosmetic neurology? But first, how did cosmetic surgery become
common? a
Footnotesa I thank Lisa Santer, Barry Schwartz,
and Martha Farah for their thoughtful comments on earlier drafts of this
paper.
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