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Is it OK to have an affair if your partner is asexual?
I am desperate to start a sexual relationship with an old acquaintance but his wife, who has no interest in sex, would be appalled if she knew. Does that matter? I read this in the Guardian’s ‘Life & Style’ section. Every week, a reader can present a dilemma she/he is faced with in her/his ‘private’…
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ASSASSINATING CITIZENS: How not to fight terror
By Brian Earp See Brian’s most recent previous post by clicking here. See all of Brian’s previous posts by clicking here. In this ‘hour’ of danger: Civil liberties and the eternal threat of terror NBC’s Pete Williams reports: The U.S. government is legally justified in killing its own citizens overseas if they are involved in…
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In vitro meat, new technologies, and the “yuck factor”
In vitro meat, recently discussed on this blog by Julian Savulescu, is gradually becoming a reality. It holds great promise, notably considering that billons of animals are slaughtered for food every year, often after spending miserable lives in factory farms, and that the current production of meat contributes significantly to the emission of greenhouse gases.…
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Why Did the Journal Publish an Article Defending Infanticide?
[This is a revised version of the Editorial which appears on the JME home page. It will replace that version.] I am personally opposed to the legalisation of infanticide. However, as the Editor of the Journal I would like to explain why the Journal would publish an article defending infanticide. The ethical discussion of infanticide…
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The Fragility of Freedom of Speech
It is no doubt naïve of me, but I am shocked that so many people do not believe in the freedom of speech. Without freedom of speech we have no freedom of thought and without freedom of thought we do not have ourselves. There is nothing original in this simple point. It has been a…
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The censor and the eavesdropper: the link between censorship and surveillance
Cory Doctorow makes a simple but important point in the Guardian: censorship today is inseparable from surveillance. In modern media preventing people from seeing proscribed information requires systems that monitor their activity. To implement copyright-protecting censorship in the UK systems must be in place to track where people seek to access and compare it to…
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Why Infanticide is Worse than Abortion
Guest Post: James Wilson The controversy over the Giubilini and Minerva article has highlighted an important disconnect between the way that academic bioethicists think about their role, and what ordinary people think should be the role of bioethics. The style of this dispute – its acrimony and apparent incomprehension on both sides – are a…
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There’s No Good Argument for Infanticide
Guest Post: Andrew McGee, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology Reposted from The Conversation with Author permission Philosophers Alberto Giubilini and Francesca Minerva have received an avalanche of abusive comments and emails following the publication of their paper on “post-birth abortion” in last week’s Journal of Medical Ethics. The response has been despicable but…
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Concern for Our Vulnerable Prenatal and Neonatal Children: A Brief Reply to Giubilini and Minerva
Guest Post: Charles C. Camosy, Assistant Professor of Theology,Fordham University, New York City Despite the wide public outcry over their article, Giubilini and Minerva’s arguments in defense of infanticide are nothing new. Peter Singer has become one of the best known philosophers in the world in part because of the attention he has received from…
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John Harris Clarifies his Position on Infanticide
Editor’s note: we received this communiqué from Professor John Harris, who wishes to clear up any misreading of his position on infanticide. I wish to clarify my position on infanticide to correct the impression that infanticide is something I defend or advocate. There is a big difference between an analysis of the moral symmetry of…