A neuroethical study on the moral responsibility of pA neuroethical study on the moral responsibility of people with developmental disabilities

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K18471
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Philosophy, Art, and related fields
• Research Institution: Kisarazu National College of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Kotani Toshihiro 木更津工業高等専門学校, 人文学系, 准教授 (80708909)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 発達障害 / 道徳的責任 / チャーチランド

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to examine moral responsibility for people with developmental disabilities, I examined that what kind of approaches based on the findings of neuroscience could be taken. What function of a brain allows us to understand and pursue moral responsibilities? As an approach to these problems, I studied the work of Paul Churchland and Patricia Churchland. As a result of this study, I clarified the need for bottom-up model and for an understanding of the importance of the concept 'control' to explain moral responsibilities based on neuroethical approaches. At the same time, I reviewed reports on the moral responsibility of people with developmental disabilities. And I clarified the need for separating "understanding function" and "executive function" on moral responsibilities in order to build proper models on their moral responsibilites.

Free Research Field

倫理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

発達障害者の問題について、配慮の必要性が認識されると同時に、どのような理解や配慮が必要であるのか、という課題が生じている。本研究は、さまざまに想定される社会的状況の中でも、道徳的責任という観点から、この問題へのアプローチの方法を検討した。脳神経倫理学の研究から、無意識下での制御機能の重要性が指摘された。その機能を中核に据えた上で、発達障害者の認知機能の特異性を認識することで、どこまで道徳的責任が求められ、どこからが配慮の対象となるのか、さらなる客観的な基準の構築に向けた検討の道筋を明確化することが、本研究の社会的意義である。