ArticleScience and engineering ethics2024
Moral Intuition Regarding the Possibility of Conscious Human Brain Organoids: An Experimental Ethics Study.
Article in Science and engineering ethics, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ethics and Regulation of Human Brain Organoid Research: Recommendations from the Asia Pacific Neuroethics Working Group.Asian bioethics review · 2026Article
- Ethical concerns about embodied brain organoids shaped by foundational distinctions and perceptions of consciousness.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Japanese attitudes toward human brain organoid research: broad support amid ethical concerns.Frontiers in genetics · 2026Article
- Views on the distribution of consciousness influence ethical judgements toward brain organoids as biological computers: an exploratory study.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2026Article
- The ethical aspects of human organ-on-chip models: A mapping review.Stem cell reports · 2025Review
- Japanese attitudes toward cell donation in human brain organoid research: many oppose broad consent.Frontiers in genetics · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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Abstract
The moral status of human brain organoids (HBOs) has been debated in view of the future possibility that they may acquire phenomenal consciousness. This study empirically investigates the moral sensitivity in people's intuitive judgments about actions toward conscious HBOs. The results showed that the presence/absence of pain experience in HBOs affected the judgment about the moral permissibility of actions such as creating and destroying the HBOs; however, the presence/absence of visual experience in HBOs also affected the judgment. These findings suggest that people's intuitive judgments about the moral status of HBOs are sensitive to the valence-independent value of phenomenal consciousness. We discuss how these observations can have normative implications; particularly, we argue that they put pressure on the theoretical view that the moral status of conscious HBOs is grounded solely in the valence-dependent value of consciousness. We also discuss how our findings can be informative even when such a theoretical view is finally justified or when the future possibility of conscious HBOs is implausible.
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