Psychopharmacological enhancement : a conceptual framework

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dc.contributor.authorStein, Dan J.
dc.date.accessioned2012-04-12T13:10:28Z
dc.date.available2012-04-12T13:10:28Z
dc.date.issued2012-01
dc.date.updated2012-03-04T16:02:24Z
dc.descriptionThe original publication is available at http://www.peh-med.com/content/7/1/5en_ZA
dc.descriptionPublication of this article was funded by the Stellenbosch University Open Access Fund.
dc.description.abstractABSTRACT: 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.en_ZA
dc.description.versionPeer Revieweden_ZA
dc.format.extent12 p.
dc.identifier.citationStein, D. J. 2012. Psychopharmacological enhancement: a conceptual framework. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 7(1):5.en_ZA
dc.identifier.other10.1186/1747-5341-7-5
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1747-5341-7-5
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/20747
dc.language.isoen_ZAen_ZA
dc.language.rfc3066en
dc.publisherBioMed Centralen_ZA
dc.rights.holderStein et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.en_ZA
dc.subjectSmart pillsen_ZA
dc.subjectHappy pillsen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshSocial medicine -- Comparative methoden_ZA
dc.subject.lcshMedical innovations -- Social aspectsen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshMedicine and psychologyen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshPsychotropic drugsen_ZA
dc.subject.lcshPsychotropic drugs -- Physiological effecten_ZA
dc.subject.lcshPsychopharmacology -- Philosophyen_ZA
dc.titlePsychopharmacological enhancement : a conceptual frameworken_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA
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