Cognitive enhancement, cheating, and why are we educating people in the first place
Huttunen, Henri (2025-05-21)
Taylor & Francis
21.05.2025
Huttunen, H. (2025). Cognitive enhancement, cheating, and why are we educating people in the first place. Ethics and Education, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449642.2025.2508616
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202505263915
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:oulu-202505263915
Tiivistelmä
Abstract
For years, a lively debate has been going on about the normative implications of the relationship between pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE) and education. While much has been said about PCE’s potential to undermine academic achievement or enable cheating, with surprisingly many authors drawing comparisons to doping in sports, one key feature has been noticeably absent from the discourse: the aims of education or why are we educating people in the first place. This paper aims to shift attention away from contingent educational practices and suggests re-focusing the discussion on whether PCE can be beneficial or detrimental to the underlying purposes of the educational endeavor. While there is ample reason for discussing the fairness of tests and entrance exams, a more pressing question is whether these practices and PCE align with the purposes of our educational institutions.
For years, a lively debate has been going on about the normative implications of the relationship between pharmacological cognitive enhancement (PCE) and education. While much has been said about PCE’s potential to undermine academic achievement or enable cheating, with surprisingly many authors drawing comparisons to doping in sports, one key feature has been noticeably absent from the discourse: the aims of education or why are we educating people in the first place. This paper aims to shift attention away from contingent educational practices and suggests re-focusing the discussion on whether PCE can be beneficial or detrimental to the underlying purposes of the educational endeavor. While there is ample reason for discussing the fairness of tests and entrance exams, a more pressing question is whether these practices and PCE align with the purposes of our educational institutions.
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