Holm, Søren & Lewis, Jonathan: Neural Organoids: How should we handle the Possibility of Sentience?

_Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics_:1-11. 2026Neural organoids derived from pluripotent stem cells have sparked ethical debate because, it is claimed, they could be sentient, or could develop sentience. We critically assess three routes for defending such a possibility: analogy with known sentient organisms, inference from neural function using leading theories of consciousness, and foundational philosophical commitments. Current cortical organoids lack nociceptors, sensory integration, a