Intervening between brain and mind: An ethical analysis of the new possibilities of the neurosciences

The fast progress in neuroscience opens up unprecedented opportunities of research and intervention. Due to their far-reaching medical, social and anthropological implications they raise new ethical issues regarding their goals and legitimacy. The "neuroethical evaluative matrix", which is presented in this article, provides an ethical orientation in neuroscientific research and clinical interventions. Its practicability is demonstrated for the following central neuroethical fields: neuroscientific research, neural grafting, psychopharmacology, neuroirnaging, neuro- and psychosurgery, and allocation in neuroscience. It will turn out that the neuroethical matrix provides a systematic and practical possibility to obtain a normative reference frame in neuroscience and neurology.