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Are some ethicists really really ethical?
In this blog recently Simon Rippon discussed the empirical evidence collected by Eric Schwitzgebel that suggests that perhaps ethicists are no more ethical in their behaviour than non-ethicists. A survey of academics in the US reveals that philosophers do not think that their peers specialising in ethics behave any better than those who do not
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Should Psychiatrists Pray with Their Patients?
In a recent interview in the Psychiatric Times (Podcast here: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/1483619?verify=0) psychiatrist and ethicist Dr. Cynthia Geppert discusses the interesting issue of whether or not it is ethically acceptable for psychiatrists to pray with their patients. Geppert’s discussion is prompted by the case of a patient who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer and
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Is Religion Good or Bad for Society?
Is Religion Good or Bad for Society? As part of their promotional tour for the book "Is Christianity Good for the World?”, English-American journalist/prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens, together with American evangelical theologian Douglas Wilson, filmed a series of debates centered around the following question: “Is religion absurd or is it good for the world?” Posed
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Should parents decide? The case of RB
In the Family Court yesterday, a controversial case that has been widely reported in the media came to a premature close. The father of baby RB, a severely physically disabled 13 month-old infant, withdrew his opposition to the plan by RB’s mother and doctors to take him off life support. It is believed that in
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Science, drugs, policy and Hume
In this blog last week Anders Sandberg discussed the widely criticised sacking of Professor David Nutt from the government’s advisory council on the misuse of drugs. Professor Nutt had openly criticised government policy, in particular the decision by government to change the classification of cannabis and ecstasy against the advice of the government’s scientific experts.
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God and Chance
As Paul Ewart points out in an interesting recent Guardian article ‘Why God Needs Chance’ — http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/03/god-chance-philosophy-atheism — chance events which result in certain individuals’ suffering undeservedly raise a version of the traditional ‘problem of evil’ for theists. If God, who is meant to be all-good and omnipotent, were to exist, how could he allow
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Switzerland gets tough on suicide clinics
The Swiss government (the Federal Council) has recently announced its intention to crack down on “suicide tourism” and to severely restrict the activities of suicide clinics like Dignitas and Exit, which have regularly made the headlines outside Switzerland in the last few years (particularly Dignitas), as foreigners make up a large proportion of the hundreds of
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Speaking truth to power
The sacking of Professor David Nutt from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has led to a spirited row between politicians and scientists. Colleagues in ACMD are resigning, refusing to be used as mere rubber stamps for pre-determined agendas. The home secretary seems to want to reorganize it to his liking. The origin
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The least bad mass murderer
By: David Edmonds One man murdered 270 people, but his release from prison caused only moderate outrage. Another murdered 13 people and it is unlikely he will ever be released because the public would not stand for it. Why the difference? I am puzzled by a comparison of intuitions about Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi and
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Authenticity and Enhancement
David Velleman, in the only paper of which I am aware that makes a defensible case against euthanasia, suggests that sometimes expanding our range of options is a bad thing, even if we choose wisely from our options. Velleman gives the example of dueling: I may be better off for lacking (by law) the option