It’s very easy, having encountered Kant for the first time, to think that his account of morality is much too cold and impersonal to be plausible – the sort of thing you might expect from a computer rather than a human. And though this criticism is rather simplistic – I think that Kant does have […]
Category: Philosophy
Musing about Kant
So… I’ve been writing a paper on Kant, the basic thrust of which is to assert the importance of respect for autonomy over and above respect for persons. (That is, I think that Kant thinks that we ought to respect persons because they’re autonomous; this is in contrast to the modern idea that we ought […]
Assisted Dying for the non-Terminal
I’m a bit behind the curve with this, but I thought it worth noting the story of Nan Maitland, who recently travelled to Dignitas* at the start of March. She was suffering from arthritis – which, though painful, is a long way short of a terminal illness. (Her story is reminiscent of Robert and Jennifer […]
Good News from Keele
It was announced yesterday that both the Centre for Professional Ethics, and the philosophy programme at Keele, have been spared the axe. From Angus Dawson’s Facebook message: We are delighted to announce that due to substantial discussions over the last two days the proposals to close PEAK (the Centre for Professional Ethics at Keele University) […]
What’re your Qualifications?
“I’ve never read a more outrageous job advert,” says a colleague’s Facebook update, in reference to this from Georgetown University. Georgetown University is seeking outstanding candidates for the position of Director of the Center for Clinical Bioethics at Georgetown University Medical Center (CCB). The CCB Director will report directly to the Medical Center’s chief executive officer, the […]
Promoting Wise Behaviour, or Mandating it?
Following on from yesterday’s vaguely pro-paternalism post, my eye was drawn to this story, concerning a prisoner who has won the right (or, rather, had the right confirmed) to have high-energy foods sent to him while he’s in chokey. The beeb has a few crowd-pleasing splutters about the crime for which he was imprisoned, but […]
Legislating for Wisdom
The decision of legislators in Northern Ireland to vote in favour of a bill requiring cyclists to wear helmets has apparently been met warmly by medics. It would appear that some people have raised a worry that requiring such behaviour might lead to an overall drop in health, on the grounds that people will be […]
Live-Donor Transplants: A Real Prisoner’s Dilemma
You may have seen in the news recently the story of Jamie and Gladys Scott, two sisters in Mississippi serving a life prison sentence for armed robbery. Jamie requires dialysis, and has been offered parole on medical grounds; Gladys has been granted parole on condition that she agree to donate a kidney to her sister. (The […]
Hate the Sin, Operate on the Sinner
There’s a story in the BMJ about a German surgeon who refused to operate on an anaesthetised patient because he – the patient – had a swastika tattoo. The surgeon, it’s reported, was a Jew who couldn’t find it in his conscience to operate on anyone with Nazi sympathies. The head of the German Medical […]
Two Fathers… and an Inflated Role for Genes?
This is interesting: researchers in Texas are reporting that they’ve generated viable mice with two genetic fathers. The science makes my head hurt, but PZ Myers gives a decent précis (although it’s still a bit long to reproduce here, and I’m not going to attempt even to give a précis of the précis). The technology […]