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Disagreement about value or about the facts?
Both within and outside ethics, people often worry about disagreements that are purely about value. Suppose that you and I completely agree about all the empirical facts about some case, yet you think that it’s absolutely forbidden to do something and I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It can seem hard to
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Neonatal euthanasia without parental consent
A provocative article soon to be published in the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry argues that parental consent should not be a prerequisite for neonatal euthanasia. At present, the only country to permit neonatal euthanasia is the The Netherlands. Medical personnel there are not prosecuted for actively euthanizing infants in great suffering, provided that they satisfy
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Why Talk about Ticking Time-Bombs?
Ticking time-bomb cases have played a tremendous role in discourse regarding the moral status of interrogational torture. In terms of the philosophical literature, an early formulation owes to a seminal essay by Henry Shue: [S]uppose a fanatic, perfectly willing to die rather than collaborate in the thwarting of his own scheme, has set a
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Coercion, compulsion and immunisation
The former head of the British Medical Association, Sir Sandy Macara, has called for the Measles Mumps and Rubella immunisation (MMR) to be a compulsory requirement prior to school entry. The UK has seen a surge in cases of measles over the last couple of years because of a fall in the immunisation rate. Many
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Is it OK to Eat Neanderthals?
In a recent article in The Observer the publication of a scientific article presenting evidence in favour of a new theory about the fate of the Neanderthals was reported (See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/may/17/neanderthals-cannibalism-anthropological-sciences-journal). According to this new theory, modern humans ate the Neanderthals! Neanderthals flourished in Europe and Western Asia between 130,000 years and 30,000 years
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Shining monkey, sadistic conclusion?
Japanese researchers have genetically modified marmoset monkeys, and demonstrated that the modification can be inherited by their offspring. The modification was the standard green fluorescent protein making the monkey's glow green under UV light, a marker to demonstrate that the modification worked (BBC shows a picture of their feet glowing "an eerie green", while the
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Forensic Failure
Testimonial power is the power we have to determine the opinion of others by testifying. To testify is to make sincere assertions in such circumstances under which we are understood to be offering those assertions as to be worth relying upon. When things go well, we tell people what we know and they come to
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Free will and brain stimulation
A study published recently in Science magazine investigated human volition in patients undergoing brain surgery. Michel Desmurget and his colleagues electrically stimulated the brains of seven subjects awake under local anaesthesia. When the right inferior parietal regions were stimulated, the subjects reported an intention to move their left hand, arm or foot. Stimulation of the
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facial transplantation and identity
Newspapers recently showed pictures of two people, a man and a woman, who underwent facial transplantations after serious accidents disfigured a large part of their faces. Both recipients were satisfied with the result, and they hope they can now resume a normal life, just like the first woman to receive this kind of transplant five