How liberal are American bioethicists?
There is growing acknowledgement of the fact that the backgrounds, ideas, and politics of American academics are out of step with the backgrounds, ideas and...
Doctors can be socialized to cooperate in morally despicable evil, says bioethicist
Bioethicist Carl Elliott seems to relish stirring up fellow bioethicists and the medical profession. In his latest book, The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the...
Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute shuts its doors
A powerhouse at Oxford generating controversial bioethical ideas has closed its doors. The Future of HumanityInstitute, headed by Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom, opened in 2005...
Is there a case for ’institutional conscientious objection’ to abortion and euthanasia?
Institutional conscientious objection may sound like an arcane bioethical issue, but it will be at the centre of fierce political debates in coming years. As...
Is diversity of opinion at risk in medical journals?
A couple of years ago, a new editor was appointed to one of the world’s leading medical journals, JAMA, or the Journal of the American...
It’s time to abolish morality in bioethics, say bioethicists
The idea that morality ought to be abolished is not limited to invading armies (pick one) or child abusers or internet scammers. Some philosophers have...
The medical profession needs to reflect on the crimes of Nazi doctors, says The Lancet
Medical ethics education must be informed by a robust understanding of medicine’s role within the Nazi regime, according to a new report from The Lancet...
Is the ethics of animal liberation showing its age? Is Peter Singer a closet speciesist?
The Expanding Circle (1981) is one of Peter Singer’s best-known books. In it he argues that moral progress is marked by a gradual widening of...
The responsibility of bioethicists: the case study of Yemen
With the eyes of the world on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, there have been relatively few observations from bioethicists. Some 1,400...
After Gaza, leading US bioethicist laments moral vacuum amongst students
A leading bioethicist, Ezekiel J. Emanuel, of the University of Pennsylvania, says that the war in Gaza has exposed a moral vacuum in American university...
Plato didn’t think that parents mattered. These academics don’t, either
In Book V of The Republic, Plato outlines a utopian vision for raising children. They will be taken from their mothers and raised communally by...
Is the world’s most influential theory of medical ethics fit for purpose in analysing abortion and euthanasia?
As a word, principlism may be clumsy and unpronounceable, but as an explanation of medical ethics, it is supreme. The four principles of autonomy, beneficence,...