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Neuroethics: Agency in the Age of Brain Science
Is free will an illusion? Is addiction a brain disease? Should we enhance our brains beyond normal? Neuroethics blends philosophical analysis with modern brain science to address these and other critical questions through captivating cases. The result is a nuanced view of human agency as surprisingly diverse and flexible. With a lively and accessible writing style, Neuroethics is an indispensable resource for students and scholars in both the sciences and humanities.
340 pages, Hardcover
Published June 9, 2023
12 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 17, 2025
I read this for a neuroethics class, and as far as "textbooks" are concerned (or textbook adjacent works), this is a compelling read. May does a good job of keeping each topic interesting, and really emphasizes the nuance that comes along with neuroethics. Sometimes I felt that May went off-topic, or got too absorbed in a small detail that would slightly derail the chapter. Most of the book, though, was interesting and made neuroethics into an accessible topic.
November 13, 2023
I read this book for two reasons.
One, I am a neuroscientist who takes engaging with neurophilosophy seriously.
Two, I am currently shadowing a professor and teaching neuroethics within an introductory neuroscience to first-year undergraduates using a much more outdated book and am thus looking for a more up to date text to use for future students, should I get the chance to build my own introductory neuroscience course in the near future.
Given that this book is described in the introduction as being useful in both contexts, I figured this would be a slam dunk.
Overall, May does a great job of outlining a lot of the relevant issues in neuroscience and neuroethics today, and his arguments are well-put together and do a solid job of melding real neuroscience data with important moral philosophical debates. I think the book is also well divided up into sections in a way that makes it effective to use for a class.
Unfortunately, I think the main flaw of this book is that it is a bit more advanced both in its neuroscience content and its philosophical reasoning. Thus, I can't really see myself using this in the intro class. I do however, feel this would make a strong central text to a higher level neuroethics course that has introductory neuroscience and introductory philosophy as pre-requisites. It is otherwise a solid choice for neuroscientists looking to learn more about neuroethics and for professors looking for a strong text for a neuroethics course!
One, I am a neuroscientist who takes engaging with neurophilosophy seriously.
Two, I am currently shadowing a professor and teaching neuroethics within an introductory neuroscience to first-year undergraduates using a much more outdated book and am thus looking for a more up to date text to use for future students, should I get the chance to build my own introductory neuroscience course in the near future.
Given that this book is described in the introduction as being useful in both contexts, I figured this would be a slam dunk.
Overall, May does a great job of outlining a lot of the relevant issues in neuroscience and neuroethics today, and his arguments are well-put together and do a solid job of melding real neuroscience data with important moral philosophical debates. I think the book is also well divided up into sections in a way that makes it effective to use for a class.
Unfortunately, I think the main flaw of this book is that it is a bit more advanced both in its neuroscience content and its philosophical reasoning. Thus, I can't really see myself using this in the intro class. I do however, feel this would make a strong central text to a higher level neuroethics course that has introductory neuroscience and introductory philosophy as pre-requisites. It is otherwise a solid choice for neuroscientists looking to learn more about neuroethics and for professors looking for a strong text for a neuroethics course!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews