Chapter Thinking What We Want: A Moral Right to Acquire Control over our Thoughts
Our ability to exert control over our thoughts is limited. Thoughts come into our awareness without our choosing or willing that they do. We are also often unable to change the content of our thoughts by force of will alone. Emerging psychological techniques and neurotechnologies may allow us to acq...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Online |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis
2026
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| Online Access: | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/109968 |
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| _version_ | 1869521203540000768 |
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| author | Dore-Horgan, Emma Douglas, Thomas |
| author_browse | Dore-Horgan, Emma Douglas, Thomas |
| author_facet | Dore-Horgan, Emma Douglas, Thomas |
| author_sort | Dore-Horgan, Emma |
| collection | Directory of Open Access Books |
| description | Our ability to exert control over our thoughts is limited. Thoughts come into our awareness without our choosing or willing that they do. We are also often unable to change the content of our thoughts by force of will alone. Emerging psychological techniques and neurotechnologies may allow us to acquire greater control over our thoughts. This chapter examines whether we have a moral right to acquire such control. We suggest that people have a strong and deeply personal interest in having control over their own thoughts and argue that this interest plausibly grounds such a moral right. However, we also argue that this moral right is limited in scope; it does not extend to all cases in which the right-holder seeks to acquire mental control that they will exercise in duty-infringing ways. |
| format | Online |
| id | doab-20.500.12854ir-172090 |
| institution | Directory of Open Access Books |
| language | eng |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis |
| publisherStr | Taylor & Francis |
| record_format | ojs |
| spelling | doab-20.500.12854ir-1720902026-02-17T05:37:39Z Chapter Thinking What We Want: A Moral Right to Acquire Control over our Thoughts Dore-Horgan, Emma Douglas, Thomas Blitz, Marc Jonathan Bublitz, Jan Christoph Autonomy Control Neurotechnology Thoughts Moral rights Mental control Freedom of thought Mental privacy GT QD Our ability to exert control over our thoughts is limited. Thoughts come into our awareness without our choosing or willing that they do. We are also often unable to change the content of our thoughts by force of will alone. Emerging psychological techniques and neurotechnologies may allow us to acquire greater control over our thoughts. This chapter examines whether we have a moral right to acquire such control. We suggest that people have a strong and deeply personal interest in having control over their own thoughts and argue that this interest plausibly grounds such a moral right. However, we also argue that this moral right is limited in scope; it does not extend to all cases in which the right-holder seeks to acquire mental control that they will exercise in duty-infringing ways. illustrator 2026-02-17T05:37:38Z 2026-02-17T05:37:38Z 2026-02-16T10:21:55Z 2026-01-02 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/109968 9783031914652 9783031914683 9783031914669 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/172090 eng Palgrave Studies in Law, Neuroscience, and Human Behavior open access Taylor & Francis 10.1007/978-3-031-91466-9 10.1007/978-3-031-91466-9 fa69b019-f4ee-4979-8d42-c6b6c476b5f0 b77fb797-b1d1-44fb-a755-1b44fe24463c 3983007a-5726-4f1e-b9df-3fbc771f2916 9783031914652 9783031914683 9783031914669 EU collection 17 819757 Horizon 2020 European Commission European Union 10.13039/501100000780 open access |
| spellingShingle | Autonomy Control Neurotechnology Thoughts Moral rights Mental control Freedom of thought Mental privacy GT QD Dore-Horgan, Emma Douglas, Thomas Chapter Thinking What We Want: A Moral Right to Acquire Control over our Thoughts |
| title | Chapter Thinking What We Want: A Moral Right to Acquire Control over our Thoughts |
| title_full | Chapter Thinking What We Want: A Moral Right to Acquire Control over our Thoughts |
| title_fullStr | Chapter Thinking What We Want: A Moral Right to Acquire Control over our Thoughts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Chapter Thinking What We Want: A Moral Right to Acquire Control over our Thoughts |
| title_short | Chapter Thinking What We Want: A Moral Right to Acquire Control over our Thoughts |
| title_sort | chapter thinking what we want a moral right to acquire control over our thoughts |
| topic | Autonomy Control Neurotechnology Thoughts Moral rights Mental control Freedom of thought Mental privacy GT QD |
| topic_facet | Autonomy Control Neurotechnology Thoughts Moral rights Mental control Freedom of thought Mental privacy GT QD |
| url | https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/109968 |
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