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You want to publish? Let’s hear all your dirty secrets
Most scientific journals demand declarations by their contributors of any actual or potential conflicts of interests. In the case of contributors to ethics journals, everything about the contributor raises a potential conflict of interest. What’s to be done?
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The Ethics of Gamification: Little Rewards for Everything
Notice that the first word of this post is red. Point your mouse cursor at the words as you read them, and each subsequent word will be marked as ‘read’. You are now being graded on how quickly you read these words. And there’s a little reward in store for anyone who reads the first…
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Forgiveness: respect, autonomy and sovereignty
by Shlomit Harrosh Five years ago Joanne Nodding was violently raped by a man she knew. As part of a restorative justice programme, she has recently met with the man at her own request and with his consent. Nodding told him of her experiences during the attack and of its effects on her family. The
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Solving the Puzzle of the Moral Status of the Embryo and Fetus
In March 2006, 21 yo Cleveland man Christopher Challancin was driving home from a party with his 17 yo girlfriend, Jessica Karos. She was 4 months pregnant. They began to argue about her ability to care for their child. Challancin, who had been drinking, became angry. He began to weave high speed through traffic and
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Penzions and Politicians
Aren’t you glad you’ve got a state pension! I know I am. It’s just great to know the government cares about us and will look after us in our old age. Kind of like having parents, only better because it’s even bigger and even stronger, and not selfish like parents are. (Also, more likely to
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Joking about ‘the Unluckiest Man in the World’
The BBC and the production company Talkback Thames, after receiving a letter of complaints from the Japanese embassy in London, issued a joint statement of apology about an episode of the popular comedy quiz show QI featuring Tsutomu Yamaguchi, who had survived the atomic bombings of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki and died last January at
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New work on neuroethics in Spain.
The growing relevance of neurosciences within Bioethics leads to the appearance of new Centres dedicated to the study of neuroethics around the world. This is the case of a new group just appeared at my home University, the University of Valencia. I would like to dedicate my first contribution to this blog to introduce this
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How to feed people dioxin and get away with it
Earlier this month German authorities closed around 4,700 farms following the discovery that pigs and poultry had been given feed contaminated with dioxins, which are thought to be among the most carcinogenic environmental pollutants. Yesterday Russia banned the import of untested pork products produced in Germany after 1 November 2010. This follows earlier import bans
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Beauty, brains, and the halo effect
by Alexandre Erler Satoshi Kanazawa is currently in the news – see e.g. these articles in the Daily Mail, The Australian and Psychology Today. An evolutionary psychologist at the London School of Economics, Kanazawa has just published a new article in the journal Intelligence (Kanazawa 2011) in which he argues, in continuity with his previous
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Stop that painting!
A painting thought to be by Peter Paul Rubens has been barred from export this week. The ban on selling it to a foreign buyer lasts until March, with the possibility of an extension, and is intended to give British museums a chance to raise the money to buy it. The committee which advises the