Autism Spectrum Condition presents a challenge to social and relational accounts of the self, precisely because it is broadly seen as a disorder impacting social relationships. Many influential theories argue that social deficits and impairments of the self are the core problems in ASC. Predictive processing approaches address these based on general purpose neurocognitive mechanisms that are expressed atypically. Here we use the High, Inflexible Precision of Prediction Errors in Autism approach in the context of cultural niche construction to explain (...) atypicalities of the relational self, specifically its minimal, extended, and intersubjective aspects. We contend that the social self in ASC should not be seen as impaired, but rather as an outcome of atypical niche construction. We unpack the scientific, ethical, and practical consequences of this view, and discuss implications for how the challenges that autistic persons face should be approached. (shrink)

Seabed mining, the extraction of minerals from the deep-sea floor, is hotly contested. Policymakers have agreed on the need for a regulatory framework. However, traditional ethical theories and principles are not well equipped for the ethics of the alien deep sea. Engaging with the sea means engaging with something abstract that we can only access indirectly. We argue that this invisibility and alienness of the sea and its inhabitants can give new insights into how ethics are done. Rather than getting (...) even more grip on what is already directly known, considering what is outside our usual moral view may be just as valuable. To do so, art can help us think with these unknown and invisible parts of the ecosystem. For that, we describe three cases. The scientist and artist Eugen Ransonnet engaged with the underwater world in the late 19th century. The Victorian flower painter Marianne North's unruly approach greatly influenced the botanic discourse until today. And finally, Christina Stadlbauer's Institute for the Relocation of Biodiversity and her work with the mollusk Pinna Nobilis in Mar Menor, Spain. We describe the Pinna Nobilis video project and the ethical and political opportunities it opens. We propose that engaging with the arts can pave the way towards including the unknown in ethical reflection and, at the same time, how it can rephrase questions that can help us reconsider what is outside of our moral view. (shrink)

In this chapter, we describe three areas within the broad field of ecogenomics or postgenomics: epigenetics, proteomics, and microbiomics. We argue that these fields challenge traditional bioethics in different ways. Since epigenetic, proteomic, and microbiomic data may contain phenotypical information, they may intensify discussions about consent, privacy, and return of results. But these fields also firmly position organisms, including human beings, as deeply entangled with their environments, as constituted by context, history, and experiences as much as genes. This yields new (...) insights into concepts of health and development. We discuss precision medicine as an example of a systemic approach to health. We argue that acknowledging the entanglement of organism and environment also means recognizing the importance of interdisciplinarity for bioethics and thinking together biomedical ethics and environmental ethics. (shrink)

In this paper, we report the results from an experimental reproductive ethics study exploring questions about reproduction and parenthood. The main finding in our study is that, while we may assume that everyone understands these concepts and their relationship in the same way, this assumption may be unwarranted. For example, we may assume that if ‘x is y’s father’, it follows that ‘y is x’s child’. However, the participants in our study did not necessarily agree that it does follow. This (...) means, at the very least, that we need to make sure all parties in a debate have the same relationships in mind when talking about reproduction and parenthood. Moreover, it gives us reason to explore more carefully the conditions which support or undermine the connections between these concepts. This cannot come from purely theoretical reasoning, nor from empirical research alone, but from the alliance between the two. (shrink)

Beliefs about the moral status of children have changed significantly in recent decades in the Western world. At the same time, knowledge about likely consequences for children of individual, parental, and societal choices has grown, as has the array of choices that (prospective) parents may have at their disposal. The intersection between these beliefs, this new knowledge, and these new choices has created a minefield of expectations from parents and a seemingly ever-expanding responsibility towards their children. Some of these new (...) challenges have resulted from progress in genetics and neuroscience. It is these challenges that we focus on in this introduction and volume. (shrink)