EASE Lab Research Meeting – March
Address
Hybrid (in-person and online options) - check below for details
Dates
Event start date : 03/17/2025
Event end date : 03/17/2025
Event start time : 3:00 PM
Event end time : 5:00 PM
Event Description
Join us for our monthly research meeting (plus snacks and social time), with a research 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.
Marybel Menzies will be discussing the ethical significance of the minimally conscious state (MCS). To do this, she will respond to a position she names the "fate worse than death view". She will 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. Menzies will 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, she argues that emotional states are prudentially valuable. To establish her position, she addresses 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, Menzies suggests the presence of prudentially valuable mental states in these patients must be appreciated.
No registration required!
In person: Wilson Hall, Room 2053 - 20 Willcocks Street
Online via Zoom: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/86203812030 (meeting passcode: 423431)
The EASE Lab is presented by New College's Buddhism, Psychology, and Mental Health Program and is a network of contemplative science researchers across U of T. The Lab supports interdisciplinary research on meditative and embodied practices , their histories and contexts globally, and their potential applications in society.
Marybel Menzies will be discussing the ethical significance of the minimally conscious state (MCS). To do this, she will respond to a position she names the "fate worse than death view". She will 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. Menzies will 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, she argues that emotional states are prudentially valuable. To establish her position, she addresses 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, Menzies suggests the presence of prudentially valuable mental states in these patients must be appreciated.
No registration required!
In person: Wilson Hall, Room 2053 - 20 Willcocks Street
Online via Zoom: https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/86203812030 (meeting passcode: 423431)
The EASE Lab is presented by New College's Buddhism, Psychology, and Mental Health Program and is a network of contemplative science researchers across U of T. The Lab supports interdisciplinary research on meditative and embodied practices , their histories and contexts globally, and their potential applications in society.