Implementing the human right to science in neuroscience

Abstract

This article considers the implications of the international Human Right to Science for advances in neuroscience. First, it provides background information on both the Human Right to Science and on likely challenges arising from neuroscience in five categories: prediction, mind-reading, mind-control, mental enhancement, and “humanness.” Second, it examines the Human Right to Science, analyzing its internal contradictions in general, discussing those contradictions in reference to neuroscience, and then analyzing some practical limitations it would have. Third, it considers how human rights law might better approach neuroscience, first through strengthening the Human Right to Science and then by finding neuroscience-relevant rights in existing or novel Human Rights. The article concludes that the Human Right to Science may play a small part in neuroscience, especially in promoting freedom to do neuroscience research, but that its overall role is likely to be minor.