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Guest Post: Consequentialism and Ethics? Bridging the Normative Gap.
Written by Simon Beard University of Cambridge After years of deliberation, a US moratorium on so-called ‘gain of function’ experiments, involving the production of novel pathogens with a high degree of pandemic potential, has been lifted [https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/nih-lifts-funding-pause-gain-function-research]. At the same time, a ground-breaking new set of guidelines about how and when such experiments can be…
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Cross Post: Common Sense for A.I. Is a Great Idea. But it’s Harder Than it Sounds.
Written by Carissa Veliz Crosspost from Slate. Click here to read the full article At the moment, artificial intelligence may have perfect memories and be better at arithmetic than us, but they are clueless. It takes a few seconds of interaction with any digital assistant to realize one is not in the presence of a…
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Announcement: Medical Ethics Symposium on Health Care Rationing – Oxford June 20th. Registration Now Open
Practical medical ethics: Rationing responsibly in an age of austerity Date: June 20th 2018, 2-5pm, includes refreshments Location: Ship Street Centre, Jesus College, Oxford Health professionals face ever expanding possibilities for medical treatment, increasing patient expectations and at the same time intense pressures to reduce healthcare costs. This leads frequently to conflicts between obligations to current patients, and others who might…
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If You Had to Choose, Would You Say Chimpanzees Are Persons or Things?
In everyday speech, the term ‘person’ often means roughly the same thing as ‘human,’ which in turn refers to someone who belongs to the species Homo sapiens. However, in practical ethics and in philosophy more broadly, the term ‘person’ has a much more rich, and more complicated, history.
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Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics: When is Sex With Conjoined Twins Permissible?
This essay was the runner up in the Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics Graduate Category Written by University of Oxford student James Kirkpatrick It is widely accepted that valid consent is necessary for the permissibility of sexual acts. This requirement explains why it is impermissible to have sex with non-human animals, children, and agents…
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Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics: The Paradox of the Benefiting Samaritan
This essay was the winner in the Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics Graduate Category Written by University of Oxford student Miles Unterreiner Question to be answered: Why is it wrong to benefit from injustice? In the 2005 film Thank You for Smoking, smooth-talking tobacco company spokesman Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is charged with…
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Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics: Why We Should Genetically ‘Disenhance’ Animals Used in Factory Farms
This essay was the winner in the Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics Undergraduate Category Written by University of Oxford student Jonathan Latimer I will defend the process of genetic ‘disenhancement’ of animals used for factory farming. I suggest that disenhancement will significantly increase the quality of life for animals in factory farms, and that…
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Cutting Costs?
Written by Neil Levy We use taxation policy for a variety of ends. Obviously, the primary goal is revenue raising, in order to support government programs. But we also use taxation to send signals and to shape behavior. We tax tobacco and alcohol, for instance, to signal social disapproval of consumption (excessive consumption, in the…
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Faster, Higher, Stronger…Happier? Olympic Athletes and the Philosophy of Well-Being
Written by Mackenzie Graham Last Sunday marked the end of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Olympic athletes train intensely for years in preparation for a single opportunity at winning gold. Unfortunately, most of them will not be successful. Many will have missed out on a medal by fractions of a second or…
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Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics: On Relational Injustice: Could Colonialism Have Been Wrong Even if it Had Introduced More Benefits Than Harms?
This essay was awarded second place in the Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics Undergraduate Category. Written by University of Oxford student, Brian Wong Recent debates over the legacy of colonialism – such that that of the British Empire – have often been centred around whether members of colonies have, on balance, benefited from being subject…