Ben Saunders’ paper in this month’s JME dealing with how to teach applied ethics is thought-provoking. He picks up on an argument between Robin Lawlor and David Benatar that’s been rumbling on for yonks in the Journal‘s pages. Lawlor and Benatar are worried about how much theory to teach in applied ethics classes – Lawlor […]
Month: September 2010
How Important are Genetic Origins?
It’s something of a commonplace to suggest that genetics poses a number of problems both in and for bioethics as it’s traditionally done. One of the problems in bioethics is that there could well be times when giving genetic information to a person about himself based on a test that he’s had will mean, necessarily, […]
Conference: Paying for blood and organs is not so bad: A Debate
Allowing sales of gametes and body parts and offering incentives to increase provision have been some of the more controversial suggestions to narrow the gap between demand and supply. Drawing on Richard Titmuss’ work on blood, many have argued that financial incentives reduce supply by driving out altruistic donors as well as reducing the quality […]
Spineless in Saudi?
A little while ago, Richard Ashcroft alerted me to this story: a judge in Saudi Arabia was considering surgical paralysis as the sentence for a man who had caused a similar injury to someone else in a fight. The BBC’s story came via a report on Amnesty’s website, which you can find here. The story […]
COBRA Conference on Teaching Professional Ethics
Nathan Emmerich reviews the conference here. He’s also asked me to add a reminder about the conference on Social Scientific Approaches to Bioethics to be held in London in January. I posted the CFP here a little while ago, but the conference website is here. […]
Bless my cotton socks, I’m in the news…
Footage of the oral evidence given to the Scottish Parliamentary Committee investigating the End of Life Assistance Bill. Starring… um… me. […]
On Nailing one’s Colours to the Mast
“You’re a Kantian,” people in my department tell me. At least, I think that’s what they say – I’m assuming that there’s no comma before the final syllable, and that I’ve got all the vowels right. I don’t think I am, actually (a Kantian, that is – I couldn’t comment on the other option). I’m […]
Conf and CFP: 5th Postgraduate Bioethics Conference
Social Scientific Approaches to Bioethics: Methods and Methodologies 5-7 January 2011, Wellcome Conference Centre, Euston Road, London Post the empirical turn scholars at work in bioethics have been making continually greater use of social scientific approaches. One the one hand this can be seen as a fulfilment of the promise of bioethics as a truly […]
Videotape, Sex and Danger
Muireann Quigley has pointed me in the direction of this story, concerning the risks of HIV faced by those working in the porn industry. An Aids activist group has filed a workplace safety complaint against Larry Flynt, accusing the porn king of creating an unsafe environment for his stable of sex stars by not requiring they […]
Conference: Medical Law and Ethics in the Media Spotlight
The British Academy, London Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th November, 2010 This event, organised by the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, University of Manchester, draws together top academics, influential practitioners, and key public figures. It is a participatory conference that will explore the complex nature of public debates in and around medical law and […]