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KMID : 1025620130160020231
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Korean Journal of Medical Ethics
2013 Volume.16 No. 2 p.231 ~ p.248
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The Ethical Debate on Cognitive Enhancement
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Lee Sang-Mok
Choi Jong-Hyun
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Abstract
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Since the last part of the 20th century, some healthy people have widely used central nervous system stimulants as cognitive enhancers and this phenomenon has become not only a social issue but also an important academic issue. When some scholars, especially neuroethicsts seek to legalize the cognitive enhancers used by healthy adults, there has been a huge debate over legalizing cognitive enhancement. Critics on cognitive enhancement point out five ethical problems if cognitive enhancement would be allowed by the pharmaceutical authority and widely spread in a western society. First, cognitive en-hancement has a safety problem and could cause various side effects, addiction, and cognitive tradeoff. Second, cognitive enhancement is morally undesirable because it is unnatural. Third, cognitive enhance-ment before the exam might be cheating. Forth, cognitive enhancement would cause social inequality and thus widen cognitive gap between riches and poors. Fifth, if cognitive enhancement would be al-lowed and widely spread among our society, many people might face pressure to take cognitive enhanc-ers for winning the competition or doing their work well. However, proponents on cognitive enhance-ment argue that these ethical concerns are exaggerated or will be resolved near in the future. They also argue that together with discussing cognitive enhancement, the evidence-based research on cognitive enhancement should take place and this would clearly reveal the risk and benefit of cognitive enhancers.
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KEYWORD
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cognitive enhancer, safety, unnaturalness, cheating, inequality, coercion
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