Human Brain Organoids and Consciousness: Moral Claims and Epistemic Uncertainty

Moral Responsibility and Consciousness

Our goal in this paper is to raise a general question about the relationship between theories of responsibility, on the one hand, and a commitment to conscious attitudes, on the other. The evidence from cognitive science suggests that there are no conscious mental states playing the right causal roles to count as decisions, judgments, or evaluations. We propose that all theorists should determi...

Consciousness and Moral Responsibility

Whenandunderwhat circumstances arewe responsible for our actions?What roledoes conscious awareness of one’s actions play in the assessment and ascription of responsibility? To answer these questions, Neil Levy has written a provocative and interesting account of the necessary role of consciousness in the assessment of responsibility for action. In an economical 150 pages, Levy makes the case fo...

Brain damage and the moral significance of consciousness.

Neuroimaging studies of brain-damaged patients diagnosed as in the vegetative state suggest that the patients might be conscious. This might seem to raise no new ethical questions given that in related disputes both sides agree that evidence for consciousness gives strong reason to preserve life. We question this assumption. We clarify the widely held but obscure principle that consciousness is...

Moral uncertainty and the moral status of early human life.

Whiplash Claims and Moral Hazard

Although whiplash is a common cause of disability, there is usually no demonstrable pathology and this leaves scope for moral hazard in claims for loss of earnings. Using weekly data about temporary disability, prescription drug purchases and the use of health services during 1996-2007, we examine the effects of a Danish 2002 reform that extended the period where whiplash claimants could get co...