Chapter Thinking What We Want: A Moral Right to Acquire Control over our Thoughts : IN Book: The Law and Ethics of Freedom of Thought Volume 2

Abstract

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.