This volume focuses on the emergent field of neuroethics comparing and contrasting how two democracies, Canada and the United States, have begun adapting public policy design to better fit human minds. The book focuses on issues relevant to all members of the general population and discusses a series of policy issues arranged roughly in the order in which they become relevant in a typical person's lifetime. After the introductory chapter each chapter considers an area of public policy particularly relevant to a different stage of life-from early childhood education policy, to policies for higher education and the workplace, to end of life decisions in living wills and advance directives. The author puts forth that making the shift towards more neurologically appropriate policy will likely be a gradual process hampered primarily by two issues. The first is the inability of neuroscientists to come to agreement on increasingly sophisticated research findings. The second issue points out that bringing policy and neurology into a more synchronous relationship requires a commitment to prolonged effort involves the largely unrecognized reality of entrenched neurological interests. The first chapter introduces the concept of disconnect between policy design with traditional understandings of the brain and goes on to highlight developments in the science of human neurology in recent years. To help contextualize the book, examples of neurological misperceptions are explored in this introductory chapter. Chapters Two through Eleven each explores a specific type of policy, incorporating understandings of the human brain which, modern neuroscience suggests, are debatable.

Autorentext

Dana Lee Baker serves as a Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Programs of Political Science and Global Studies at California State University Channel Islands. Dr. Baker completed her PhD in Public Policy at the University of Texas at Austin, her Master of Public Policy at the University of Southern California, and bachelor's in history and Religious Studies at Rice University. Previous books authored and co-authored by Dr. Baker include: The Politics of Neurodiversity: Why Public Policy Matters; Law and Neurodiversity (with Laurie Drapela and Whitney Littlefield); and Neuroethics in Higher Education Policy (with Brandon Leonard). Raquel Baker earned a PhD in English Literary Studies from the University of Iowa. She specializes in Postcolonial Studies and 20th- and 21st-century African literatures in English. She received a BA in Psychology from San Francisco State University and an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Postcolonial and Transnational Literatures at California State University Channel Islands, where she teaches creative writing, literature, and Africana Studies including courses on contemporary African and African diasporic speculative and science fiction.

Inhalt

Chapter 1: Introduction: Of the People, for the People and by the People?.- Chapter 2: Early Childhood Education: Ensuring Access through 1990s Neuroscience.- Chapter 3: Bullying and the Beholder: Zero Tolerance Policies.- Chapter 4: Medicine and the Mind: Treating the Adolescent Brain.- Chapter 5: Ages of Consent and Majority: Perspective and Decision Making.- Chapter 6: Knowledge and Wisdom: High Stakes Testing and Learning Outcomes.- Chapter 7: Labor Policy: Employees as Children.- Chapter 8: Fairness and Bias: Discrimination in the Workplace.- Chapter 9: Persistence of Memory: Bearing Witness or Serving on a Jury.- Chapter 10: Happy Golden Years: Retirement Policy.- Chapter 11: Will to Live and the Living Will.- Chapter 12: Complexity is Our Responsibility: Concluding Thoughts on Moving Forward.