Jan Christoph Bublitz – författare

Freedom of thought is one of the great and venerable notions of Western thought, often celebrated in philosophical texts – and described as a crucial right in American, European, and International Law, and in that of other jurisdictions.

Freedom of thought is one of the great and venerable notions of Western thought, often celebrated in philosophical texts – and described as a crucial right in American, European, and International Law, and in that of other jurisdictions.  What it means more precisely is, however, anything but clear; surprisingly little writing has been devoted to it.  In the past, perhaps, there has been little need for such elaboration.  As one Supreme Court Justice stressed, “[f]reedom to think is absolute of its own nature” because even “the most tyrannical government is powerless to control the inward workings of the mind.” But the rise of brain scanning, cognition enhancement, and other emerging technologies make this question a more pressing one. This volume provides an interdisciplinary exploration of how freedom of thought might function as an ethical principle and as a constitutional or human right.  It draws on philosophy, legal analysis, history, and reflections on neuroscience and neurotechnology to explore what respect for freedom of thought (or an individual’s cognitive liberty or autonomy) requires.

Freedom of thought is one of the great and venerable notions of Western thought, often celebrated in philosophical texts – and described as a crucial right in American, European, and International Law, and in that of other jurisdictions.

This book is the second volume of The Law and Ethics of Freedom of Thought.  The first, published in 2021, explored conceptual questions regarding what a right to freedom of thought does or should protect, the history of that concept, and its implications in the twenty-first century.  This volume looks more closely at the challenges raised for liberty and privacy of thought raised by emerging neurotechnologies. In doing so, it analyzes arguments for “cognitive liberty” and how courts defining and applying freedom of thought in international law might understand the right and give it effect. The book addresses key issues related to mental privacy and the challenge of protecting it when the contents of our minds become more objectively manifested through techniques such as neuroimaging.  It also explores how questions about the privacy of thought relate to the challenge of more clearly defining the right to freedom of thought: What does the “thought” protected by that right mean more precisely, and does it enjoy a privileged, even absolute protection against the use by governments and private actors of new technologies of “brain reading”?Chapters 1, 2 and 8 are available as Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com

This book is the second volume of The Law and Ethics of Freedom of Thought.  The first, published in 2021, explored conceptual questions regarding what a right to freedom of thought does or should protect, the history of that concept, and its implications in the twenty-first century.  This volume looks more closely at the challenges raised for liberty and privacy of thought raised by emerging neurotechnologies. In doing so, it analyzes arguments for “cognitive liberty” and how courts defining and applying freedom of thought in international law might understand the right and give it effect. The book addresses key issues related to mental privacy and the challenge of protecting it when the contents of our minds become more objectively manifested through techniques such as neuroimaging.  It also explores how questions about the privacy of thought relate to the challenge of more clearly defining the right to freedom of thought: What does the “thought” protected by that right mean more precisely, and does it enjoy a privileged, even absolute protection against the use by governments and private actors of new technologies of “brain reading”?Chapters 1, 2 and 8 are available as Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com