Progress in brain research
January 1, 2009
Neil Levy, Julian Savulescu
62 citations
Neuroimaging evidence suggests that some patients diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state are actually conscious. This paper critically examines that evidence, arguing that while alternative interpretations remain possible, it strongly suggests consciousness in some patients. However, the ethical significance is less than often assumed. Different kinds of consciousness have different moral weight: phenomenal consciousness (qualitative feel) makes patients moral patients whose welfare matters, but only access consciousness (global availability of information to cognitive systems) confers personhood with full moral status. Further research is needed to determine whether these patients possess the sophisticated access consciousness required for personhood.
The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health
September 2, 2025
Khaleel Rajwani, Edward Jacobs, Lori Bruce et al.
6 citations
A scoping review of medical literature from 2000 to 2025 found no completed or published clinical trials testing psychedelic-assisted therapy in adolescents under 18, despite three trial registrations and one trial plan. The proposed studies would have investigated MDMA-assisted or psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder, autism with social anxiety, or self-harm. Ethical approval and recruitment details were inconsistently reported. This absence of data represents a major evidence gap that could hinder informed care. The authors argue for cautious, ethically grounded research starting with older adolescents who have the highest foreseeable benefit-risk ratio due to special circumstances.
The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of Consciousness
July 9, 2020
Joshua Shepherd, Neil Levy
4 citations
Consciousness is relevant to three distinct ethical issues: an entity's moral status, moral responsibility for actions, and the acquisition of moral knowledge. Despite these different connections, it remains unclear what exactly about consciousness makes it intuitively important for each area. The chapter explores whether there might be a common thread linking these issues, concluding that this possibility remains open.
Philosophical Psychology
September 8, 2025
Mina Caraccio, Katherine Cheung, Sebastian Porsdam Mann et al.
3 citations
As interest in psychedelics like psilocybin, ketamine, and MDMA revives and their legal status changes in many places, ethical guidelines are urgently needed for both medical and non-medical use. This paper argues that focusing only on medical applications neglects potentially valuable uses in other contexts and raises ethical issues including hype, exceptionalism, informed consent, therapeutic touch, data collection, and balancing access with safety. The authors call for renewed attention to the treatment-versus-enhancement distinction from bioethics and stress that guidelines should be flexible and context-sensitive. They recommend incorporating diverse stakeholder perspectives and cross-sector collaboration in future research and policy for psychedelic bioethics.