Psychopharmacological enhancement : a conceptual framework

Date
2012-01
Authors
Stein, Dan J.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BioMed Central
Abstract
ABSTRACT: 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.
Description
The original publication is available at http://www.peh-med.com/content/7/1/5
Publication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.
Keywords
Smart pills, Happy pills
Citation
Stein, D. J. 2012. Psychopharmacological enhancement: a conceptual framework. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 7(1):5.