EASE research meeting

Join us for our monthly research meeting (plus snacks and social time), with presentation by Marybel Menzies, plus an open discussion of the Lab’s future, and an info session about this summer’s Plum Village science retreat.

Location: Wilson Hall, Room 2053 and Online ( https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/86203812030 Meeting ID: 862 0381 2030, Passcode: 423431)

Marybel Menzies is a graduate student pursuing her PhD in the Department of Philosophy. Her primary research interests include work at the intersection of philosophy of mind and value theory. Specifically, she is interested in the value of consciousness and its application to biomedical conditions such as vegetative states and locked-in syndrome. Outside of academia, she enjoys swimming, dancing, perusing natural landscapes, listening to music, photography, and travel.

Marybel Menzies’ presentation abstract:

“In this talk, I argue for the ethical significance of the minimally conscious state (MCS). To do this, I respond to a position I name the “fate worse than death view”. I then analyze current neuroscientific evidence for mental state activity in patients diagnosed MCS, as well as perform a value theoretical analysis of these mental states to determine whether they are prudentially valuable. I show that research suggests MCS patients retain significant neural activity in regions associated with emotional processing. This preserved neural activity correlated with specific mental states that have prudential value—particularly, I argue that emotional states are prudentially valuable. To establish my position, I address two objections, including the inverse inference and adaptive preference objection. The conclusion has implications for clinical ethics and treatment decisions because it suggests that prudentially valuable mental states give rise to interests, which ought to be factored into decision-making by clinicians. Thus, while the ethical challenges surrounding MCS remain complex, I suggest the presence of prudentially valuable mental states in these patients must be appreciated.”