An ethics of cognitive enhancement based on toleration, transparency, and humility can address criticisms of enhanced work and build a culture of open cognitive enhancement in academic and workplace settings.

Humility pills: building an ethics of cognitive enhancement.

Cognitive enhancement is acceptable in non-zero-sum activities and when the importance of process is outweighed by the importance of outcome, aligning with collaborative authorship and shifting praise and blame from individual creators to the product of their efforts.

Cognitive Enhancement, Cheating, and Accomplishment

Media outlets are reporting that cognitive enhancement is reaching epidemic levels, but evidence is lacking and ethical questions remain. The US Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues (Bioethics Commission) has examined the issue, and we lay out the commission's findings and their relevance for the scientific community.

Cognitive Enhancement and Beyond: Recommendations from the Bioethics Commission

Normalization of cognitive enhancement practices in competitive contexts alleviates fairness-based concerns, but does not address purity-based concerns.

How pills undermine skills: Moralization of cognitive enhancement and causal selection

Cognitive enhancement can be framed in terms of cognitive achievement rather than knowledge, and can be compatible with active externalist approaches in philosophy of mind and cognitive science.

The Epistemology of Cognitive Enhancement.

Buddhists, particularly from Mahyna traditions, should advocate for pharmaceutical enhancements if they lead to further insight into self-nature or reduced dissatisfaction.

Buddhism and neuroethics: the ethics of pharmaceutical cognitive enhancement.

Pharmacological human enhancement methods, such as nootropics and neural modifiers, raise ethical concerns and require regulation, highlighting the potential for profound societal changes.

Pharmacological Human Enhancement: An Overview of the Looming Bioethical and Regulatory Challenges

Cognitive enhancement can be divided into four empirical frameworks to address various ethical and medical concerns, avoiding speculation and reifying cognitive enhancement as an entity.

Ethical Considerations in the Framing of the Cognitive Enhancement Debate

Cognitive enhancement can enhance competence and authenticity, but not all dimensions of autonomy can be directly enhanced through cognitive interventions.

Autonomy and the limits of cognitive enhancement.

Non-pharmacological cognitive enhancement strategies, such as nutrition, physical exercise, sleep, meditation, mnemonic strategies, computer training, and brain stimulation, may be more effective than pharmaceuticals.

Non-pharmacological cognitive enhancement

Cognitive enhancement raises ethical issues, but current research lacks consensus on human nature, deception, fairness, and autonomy.

The Ethical Aspects of Cognitive Enhancement

Public attitudes towards cognitive enhancement are sophisticated enough to warrant inclusion in policy deliberations, as they are sensitive to neuroethical concerns and cautiously accept its potential perils.

Public Attitudes Toward Cognitive Enhancement

Cognitive enhancement can benefit individuals and society, but has risks and ethical concerns, and nonpharmacological strategies should be prioritized for development.

Focusing the Neuroscience and Societal Implications of Cognitive Enhancers

Cognitive enhancement technologies, when combined with virtue ethics, can improve our capacity for responsible decision making and enhance the quality of life for individuals and the collective.

Technology, Cognitive Enhancement, and Virtue Ethics

Neuroscientific research into pharmacological cognitive enhancers can advance ethical debates and help inform policy decisions on their use, promoting informed and ethical policy-making.

Pharmacological cognitive enhancement—how neuroscientific research could advance ethical debate

Cognitive enhancement in children and adolescents may not be in their best interests, as it may not improve their academic performance or lead to a safer and more effective learning environment.

Cognitive enhancement in children and adolescents: Is it in their best interests?

Promoting adequate sleep, increasing physical activity, a healthy diet, and promoting good mental health can enhance cognitive functioning in the population, making pharmaceutical drugs unsuitable for cognitive enhancement.

Towards a Smart Population: A Public Health Framework for Cognitive Enhancement

Moral enhancement is most likely to be successful through socialization, education, and parental supervision, or general cognitive enhancement methods, rather than targeting specific ethical capacities.

MORAL ENHANCEMENT AND FREEDOM

Cognitive enhancement is a multifaceted concept, encompassing biochemical, physical, and behavioral interventions, each with unique modes of action, cognitive domains, time scales, availability, and side effects.

Hacking the Brain: Dimensions of Cognitive Enhancement

Cognitive enhancement should be based on mechanistic theories to address potential downsides and address neuro-competition and nonlinearity principles, while considering both upsides and downsides.

The Downsides of Cognitive Enhancement

What are the ethics of cognitive enhancement?

These studies suggest that the ethics of cognitive enhancement involve considerations of toleration, transparency, humility, fairness, regulation, and the balance between process and outcome, with both pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods presenting unique ethical challenges and benefits.