Mental Integrity, Vulnerability, and Brain Manipulations: A Bioethical perspective

Abstract

When discussing possible brain manipulations and interventions, the protection of mental integrity is especially relevant at the anthropological level since human identity may be affected. In this sense, I argue that mental integrity is constituted as a right because it is the condition of possibility for other human dimensions, such as freedom, autonomy, and agency. In this regard, we must protect mental integrity in order to safeguard human intimacy. Nevertheless, since the human being is a situated being, with a strong relationship with his/her environment, protecting the mental integrity of the individuals also means protecting their environment. In this regard, a more complex and integrative view of the human being is necessary. One of the dimensions that current brain manipulations and interventions may affect, at the anthropological level, is the issue of human vulnerability, which maintains a strong link with our integrity. Indeed, the mitigation (or the respect) of our vulnerability is a prerequisite for maintaining our integrity (which is linked to personal identity). Vulnerability creates, thus, ethical concerns for two main reasons: 1. We must protect our vulnerability because we need to preserve our integrity and, therefore, our dignity; and 2. We have to protect human vulnerability because we are the main cause of it: our technological power is probably the main source of our current vulnerability. In this sense, the concept of vulnerability lies at the intersection between power and duty and, for this reason, may constitute a powerful (bio)ethical indicator in order to assess current neurotechnologies and their impact in our lives.