Book Symposium: “<i>Neuroethics: Agency in the Age of Brain Science”</i>

“We’re in the age of brain science,” writes Joshua May, which comes along with new “ethical concerns and implications” (2023, xv). This Symposium discusses his new book, Neuroethics: Agency in the Age of Brain Science (Oxford University Press, 2023), which expands on earlier calls for “nuance” in this interdisciplinary field (see, e.g., King & May 2018). The book has an angle: the brain matters in questions of agency and responsibility, but cannot provide the final word. It is written with an eye to the classroom, with primers on philosophy and neuroscience in the introduction and case studies in each chapter. The Symposium should be useful for those who are interested in the book for both research and teaching purposes, covering content from all of the chapters. May’s Précis (2025a) summarizes the book through its four main parts together with an overview of its outlook. Evans (2025) critically assesses May’s claims on deep brain stimulation in Chapter 3, finding them to apply less well to psychiatric disorders (such as anorexia nervosa). Fagan (2025) finds that May’s reasoning on mental disorders and moral responsibility in Chapter 4 may have too much nuance, and suggests some utility in generalizing. Both of these chapters are also discussed by Pugh (2025), who raises new issues of consent and blame. Moseley (2025) questions whether May has provided sufficient framework in Chapter 7 to help us assess brain interventions for moral enhancement. Roskies (2025) critically assesses all of the chapters with an eye to the difficulties of truly interdisciplinary work. In his response, May (2025b) pushes back on some of these criticisms while accepting others, providing more detail on the issues raised.