Psychopharmacological enhancement: a conceptual framework

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dc.contributor.authorStein, Danen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-23T12:09:52Z
dc.date.available2015-11-23T12:09:52Z
dc.date.issued2012en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThe availability of a range of new psychotropic agents raises the possibility that these will be used for enhancement purposes (smart pills, happy pills, and pep pills). The enhancement debate soon raises questions in philosophy of medicine and psychiatry (eg, what is a disorder?), and this debate in turn raises fundament questions in philosophy of language, science, and ethics. In this paper, a naturalistic conceptual framework is proposed for addressing these issues. This framework begins by contrasting classical and critical concepts of categories, and then puts forward an integrative position that is based on cognitive-affective research. This position can in turn be used to consider the debate between pharmacological Calvinism (which may adopt a moral metaphor of disorder) and psychotropic utopianism (which may emphasize a medical metaphor of disorder). I argue that psychiatric treatment of serious psychiatric disorders is justified, and that psychotropics are an acceptable kind of intervention. The use of psychotropics for sub-threshold phenomena requires a judicious weighing of the relevant facts (which are often sparse) and values.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationStein, D. (2012). Psychopharmacological enhancement: a conceptual framework. <i>Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15259en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationStein, Dan "Psychopharmacological enhancement: a conceptual framework." <i>Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine</i> (2012) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15259en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationStein, D. J. (2012). Psychopharmacological enhancement: a conceptual framework. Philos Ethics Humanit Med, 7(5).en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Stein, Dan AB - The availability of a range of new psychotropic agents raises the possibility that these will be used for enhancement purposes (smart pills, happy pills, and pep pills). The enhancement debate soon raises questions in philosophy of medicine and psychiatry (eg, what is a disorder?), and this debate in turn raises fundament questions in philosophy of language, science, and ethics. In this paper, a naturalistic conceptual framework is proposed for addressing these issues. This framework begins by contrasting classical and critical concepts of categories, and then puts forward an integrative position that is based on cognitive-affective research. This position can in turn be used to consider the debate between pharmacological Calvinism (which may adopt a moral metaphor of disorder) and psychotropic utopianism (which may emphasize a medical metaphor of disorder). I argue that psychiatric treatment of serious psychiatric disorders is justified, and that psychotropics are an acceptable kind of intervention. The use of psychotropics for sub-threshold phenomena requires a judicious weighing of the relevant facts (which are often sparse) and values. DA - 2012 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1186/1747-5341-7-5 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2012 T1 - Psychopharmacological enhancement: a conceptual framework TI - Psychopharmacological enhancement: a conceptual framework UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15259 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/15259
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-5341-7-5
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationStein D. Psychopharmacological enhancement: a conceptual framework. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine. 2012; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15259.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherBioMed Central Ltden_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Psychiatry and Mental Healthen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Health Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licenseen_ZA
dc.rights.holderStein; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012en_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0en_ZA
dc.sourcePhilosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicineen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://peh-med.biomedcentral.com/en_ZA
dc.subject.othernaturalistic conceptual frameworken_ZA
dc.subject.otherpharmacological Calvinismen_ZA
dc.subject.otherpsychotropic utopianismen_ZA
dc.titlePsychopharmacological enhancement: a conceptual frameworken_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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