In the article “Memory Blunting: Ethical Analysis”, the President’s Council on Bioethics presents various worries about using medications that dull the impact and emotional responses of traumatic memories. I will go in depth on two of these concerns raised by the Council and present Adam Kolber’s arguments against these claims. I will then present my own reasons for why the concerns should not prohibit the use of memory dampening drugs. The President’s Council on Bioethics expresses numerous concerns about using memory dampening drugs to limit the emotional responses of a traumatic memory and make the memory easier to forget. One concern that the Council has is that by using memory altering drugs, we are interfering with our true identities…show more content… He argues that none of the concerns raised by the Council could warrant prohibiting the use of memory dampening drugs. In response to the Council’s concern that memory blunting drugs would interfere with our identity and give us a flawed sense of happiness, Kolber points out that even without medication, we forget and “selectively” remember things all the time (101). It is natural for us to remember some things and forget others. We forget some experiences faster than other experiences. Yet, we are not worried that the constant decay of memories that occur naturally will affect our identities. Kolber argues that it is unclear why we should then worry about the decay of memories with the assistance of medication (101). Kolber also points out that memory dampening drugs may help us and strengthen our true identities because we will not be bogged down with traumatic memories that prevent us from living out our lives (101). Kolber also disagrees with the Council’s concern that memory blunting drugs would change our reactions to pain and cause us to be unaffected by suffering. He states that traumatic events will seem less awful because memory dampening drugs cause these events to be less awful (112). These medications will ease those who have the memories of the traumatic events, thus making the events themselves less tragic. The memory dampening drugs would allow us to tend to emotional pain that follows distressing events. Even though there can be legitimate concerns with memory dampening drugs, Kolber argues that the benefits are too great to prohibit the use of these
