Undergraduate Finalist paper in the 2026 National Uehiro Oxford Essay Prize in Practical Ethics. By Ethan Beri. Despite being the “oldest profession”, prostitution is still hotly debated, both in the academy and in public discourse. Prostitution is often considered worse than other jobs, in part because it wrongs the prostitute: a woman who sells sex… Read More »Is Prostitution Just a Job?
By Dr Jeremy Gauntlett-Gilbert; Consultant Psychologist and student, MSt Practical Ethics Chatbots are increasingly being used to deliver an AI version of psychological therapy. Internationally, there is pressure on mental health services and a shortage of human therapists. Mental health providers have a keen interest in such AI technological solutions that might offer treatment “at… Read More »Mental Health Chatbots: on Truth and Bullshit
By Taka Kurogi, Bruno dos Santos Queiroz We were pleased to be welcomed at the Bentham Project by Drs. Isra Black and Tim Causer of UCL’s Faculty of Laws. It was deeply inspiring to learn more about the Project’s ongoing work and its central role in preserving, studying, and, most importantly, making publicly accessible the… Read More »A Visit to the Bentham Project at University College London (UCL)
Join this year’s cohort of MSt in Practical Ethics students – apply by 28th January to take advantage of funding opportunities. The MSt in Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford is designed for those who want to think carefully and rigorously about important ethical questions, while remaining firmly engaged with the real world. Ethics,… Read More »The MSt in Practical Ethics at Oxford University – Apply Before January 28!
Blog post by Prof Roger Crisp (Professor of Moral Philosophy/ Director of the Uehiro Oxford Institute) At the invitation of Professor Beatrix Busse, I was recently lucky enough to be asked to participate in the fifth anniversary celebrations of the European University of Well-being (E-Uni-Well), held in Cologne. EUniWell – the European University for Well-Being –… Read More »‘Happy Birthday to E-Uni-Well’
EACME Conference 2025 Healthcare innovation and research often prioritise acceleration and efficiency. This keynote (12th September 2025) challenged this paradigm by drawing on preliminary findings from Project Lazy, which explores judgements about laziness through research and community engagement. The talk had four parts: an introduction to Project Lazy, findings from the philosophical part, findings from… Read More »When Slowing Down Creates Value
Time has flown since the Uehiro Oxford Institute came into existence on 1 October 2024! We continue to seek to improve the world through engagement with others – what we call ‘Thought into Action’ – and have made great progress in fulfilling our mission to work philosophically across many disciplines, including medicine, history, law, computer… Read More »UOI’s First Anniversary!
This is the fourth in a trial blog series called “Practically Prompted” – an experiment in using large language models to independently select a recent, ethically rich news story and then write a Practical Ethics blog-style post about it. The text below is the model’s work, followed by some light human commentary. See this post for the… Read More »Practically prompted #4: Carnival, Cameras, and Consent: The Ethics of Live Facial Recognition at Notting Hill
I am just back from a celebration of the 20th anniversary of IDEA: the Ethics Centre, at the University of Leeds. (IDEA stands for ‘Inter-disciplinary Ethics Applied’.) IDEA was founded by Chris Megone, an old friend from my graduate days, and is now directed by Simon Kirchin. The centre has achieved a huge amount in… Read More »Congratulations to ‘IDEA’ in Leeds!
TL;DR High-stake policy decisions often involve conflict between values, like fairness versus efficiency, or individual rights versus the common good. The various committees (like hospital ethics boards or policy advisory groups) tasked with resolving these conflicts often work in ways that are hard to scrutinize, their conclusions shaped by the specific people in the room.… Read More »Press Replay on Ethics: How AI Debate Panels Surface Hidden Value-Trade-Offs
