Event Description
Professor Gazzaniga's work focuses on how the brain works and produces ideas, including morals. Gazzaniga has brought his work on brain function to many people through his numerous books and his participation in several public television specials. He also sits on the President's Council on Bioethics. Professor Gazzaniga's lecture on "The Ethical Brain" explained how neuroscience contributes to our understanding of everyday ethical issues, such as whether an embryo has the moral status of a human being. He argued that neuroscience has little to say about concepts such as free will and personal responsibility. However, cognitive neuroscience does suggest how brain research will instruct us on universal morals possessed by all members of our species. This fundamental development will find cognitive neuroscience becoming central to the modern world's view of ethical universals.
Commentators
Prof. Lawrence Charnas, MD, PhD
Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota
Prof. Carl Elliott, MD, PhD
Center for Bioethics; Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School