This book comes in two parts. The first part presents the proceedings of the workshop, which was held in Amsterdam on 22 and 23 April 2004. The workshop mapped out the current state of knowledge in 7 areas of the brain sciences, and made 12 statements on the impact of brain science from a societal perspective. Three societal issues singled out by the experts and stakeholders — limits of normalcy and enhancement, reductionism, and responsibility and free will — were discussed in working groups. A summary of their lively discussions rounds off the first part of the book.The second part of the book contains a summary of all the social issues raised by the brain sciences, taking them up in a more systematic way and in greater detail and thereby supplementing the recorded insights of the workshop participants with relevant facts and quotations of other experts.
