Fostering the trustworthiness of researchers: SPECS and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology research
The development of novel neurotechnologies, such as brain-computer interface (BCI) and deep-brain stimulation (DBS), are very promising in improving the welfare and life prospects many people. These include life-changing therapies for medical conditions and enhancements of cognitive, emotional, and...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2021-04-01
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| Series: | Research Ethics Review |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016120952500 |
| _version_ | 1818926520076337152 |
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| author | Paul Tubig Darcy McCusker |
| author_facet | Paul Tubig Darcy McCusker |
| author_sort | Paul Tubig |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The development of novel neurotechnologies, such as brain-computer interface (BCI) and deep-brain stimulation (DBS), are very promising in improving the welfare and life prospects many people. These include life-changing therapies for medical conditions and enhancements of cognitive, emotional, and moral capacities. Yet there are also numerous moral risks and uncertainties involved in developing novel neurotechnologies. For this reason, the progress of novel neurotechnology research requires that diverse publics place trust in researchers to develop neural interfaces in ways that are overall beneficial to society and responsive to ethical values and concerns. In this article, we argue that researchers and research institutions have a moral responsibility to foster and demonstrate trustworthiness with respect to broader publics whose lives will be affected by their research. Using Annette Baier’s conceptual analysis of trust, which takes competence and good will to be its central components, we propose that practices of ethical reflexivity could play a valuable role in fostering the trustworthiness of individual researchers and research institutions through building and exhibiting their moral competence and good will. By ethical reflexivity, we mean the reflective and discursive activity of articulating, analyzing, and assessing the assumptions and values that might be underlying their ethical actions and projects. Here, we share an ethics dialog tool—called the Scientific Perspectives and Ethics Commitments Survey (or SPECS)—developed by the University of Washington’s Center of Neurotechnology (CNT) Neuroethics Thrust. Ultimately, the aim is to show the promise of ethical reflexivity practices, like SPECS, as a method of enhancing trustworthiness in researchers and their institutions that seek to develop novel neurotechnologies for the overall benefit of society. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T02:58:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ffd85ff0623a40718a13d44d77bef05b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1747-0161 2047-6094 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T02:58:25Z |
| publishDate | 2021-04-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Research Ethics Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-ffd85ff0623a40718a13d44d77bef05b2022-12-21T19:55:51ZengSAGE PublishingResearch Ethics Review1747-01612047-60942021-04-011710.1177/1747016120952500Fostering the trustworthiness of researchers: SPECS and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology researchPaul TubigDarcy McCuskerThe development of novel neurotechnologies, such as brain-computer interface (BCI) and deep-brain stimulation (DBS), are very promising in improving the welfare and life prospects many people. These include life-changing therapies for medical conditions and enhancements of cognitive, emotional, and moral capacities. Yet there are also numerous moral risks and uncertainties involved in developing novel neurotechnologies. For this reason, the progress of novel neurotechnology research requires that diverse publics place trust in researchers to develop neural interfaces in ways that are overall beneficial to society and responsive to ethical values and concerns. In this article, we argue that researchers and research institutions have a moral responsibility to foster and demonstrate trustworthiness with respect to broader publics whose lives will be affected by their research. Using Annette Baier’s conceptual analysis of trust, which takes competence and good will to be its central components, we propose that practices of ethical reflexivity could play a valuable role in fostering the trustworthiness of individual researchers and research institutions through building and exhibiting their moral competence and good will. By ethical reflexivity, we mean the reflective and discursive activity of articulating, analyzing, and assessing the assumptions and values that might be underlying their ethical actions and projects. Here, we share an ethics dialog tool—called the Scientific Perspectives and Ethics Commitments Survey (or SPECS)—developed by the University of Washington’s Center of Neurotechnology (CNT) Neuroethics Thrust. Ultimately, the aim is to show the promise of ethical reflexivity practices, like SPECS, as a method of enhancing trustworthiness in researchers and their institutions that seek to develop novel neurotechnologies for the overall benefit of society.https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016120952500 |
| spellingShingle | Paul Tubig Darcy McCusker Fostering the trustworthiness of researchers: SPECS and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology research Research Ethics Review |
| title | Fostering the trustworthiness of researchers: SPECS and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology research |
| title_full | Fostering the trustworthiness of researchers: SPECS and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology research |
| title_fullStr | Fostering the trustworthiness of researchers: SPECS and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology research |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fostering the trustworthiness of researchers: SPECS and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology research |
| title_short | Fostering the trustworthiness of researchers: SPECS and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology research |
| title_sort | fostering the trustworthiness of researchers specs and the role of ethical reflexivity in novel neurotechnology research |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/1747016120952500 |
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