Announcement: 3rd Annual Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics
After our enforced time offline it is with great pleasure that we can now announce and publish the winners of the Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics 2017 on the Practical Ethics in the News Blog.
The winner of the Undergraduate Category is Paul de Font-Reaulx, with his essay ‘What Makes Discrimination Wrong?’
The runner up in the Undergraduate Category is Andreas Masvie with his essay ‘The Ethical Dilemma of Youth Politics’.
The winner of the Graduate Category is Romy Eskens with her essay ‘Is Sex With Robots rape? On the Permissibility of Cosentless Sex With Robots’.
The runner up in the Graduate Category is Jonas Haeg with his essay ‘Should We Completely Ban “Political Bots”?’
Announcement: 3rd Annual Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics
Graduate and undergraduate students currently enrolled at the University of Oxford in any subject are invited to enter the Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics by submitting an essay of up to 2000 words on any topic relevant to practical ethics. Eligibility includes visiting students who are registered as recognized students, and paying fees, but does not include informal visitors. Two undergraduate papers and two graduate papers will be shortlisted from those submitted to go forward to a public presentation and discussion, where the winner of each category will be selected.
The winner from each category will receive £300, and the runner up £100. All four finalist essays will be considered for publication in the Journal of Practical Ethics.
To enter, please submit your written papers by the end of 23rd January 2017 to rocci.wilkinson@philosophy.ox.ac.uk. Finalists will be notified in early to mid February. The public presentation will take place in 7th Week, Hilary term 2017. Continue reading
Cross Post: Ig Nobel Prize Winner: Why I Lived Like a Badger, an Otter, a Deer and a Swift
Written by Charles Foster, Research Associate, University of Oxford
This article was originally published in The Conversation
I have lived as a badger in a hole in a Welsh wood, as an otter in the rivers of Exmoor, an urban fox rummaging through the dustbins of London’s East End, a red deer in the West Highlands of Scotland and on Exmoor, and, most hubristically, a swift, oscillating between Oxford and West Africa. For this I was recently awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for “achievements that make people laugh, and then think”. Why I did this is not an unreasonable question. There are many answers. One is that I wanted to perceive landscapes more accurately. Continue reading
Philosophers Take on The World: David Edmonds
We are pleased to announce the publication of David Edmonds’ Philosophers Take on the World, an edited collection of short essays, many of which are by our bloggers.
Every day the news shows us provoking stories about what’s going on in the world, about events which raise moral questions and problems. In Philosophers Take On the World a team of philosophers get to grips with a variety of these controversial issues, from the amusing to the shocking, in short, engaging, often controversial pieces. Covering topics from guns to abortion, the morality of drinking alone, hating a sports team, and being rude to cold callers, the essays will make you think again about the judgements we make on a daily basis and the ways in which we choose to conduct our lives.
CONSENSUS STATEMENT ON CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION IN HEALTHCARE
On the 7th, 8th, and 9th of June 2016 a group of philosophers and bioethicists gathered at the Brocher Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland, to participate in a workshop on healthcare practitioners’ conscience and conscientious objection in healthcare. Conscientious objection is the refusal by a healthcare practitioner to provide a certain medical service, for example an abortion or medical assistance in dying, because it conflicts with the practitioner’s moral views. Aim of the workshop was to discuss the ethical and legal aspects of conscientious objection in healthcare, in view of proposing some guidelines for the regulation of conscientious objection in healthcare in the future.
At the end of the workshop, the participants formulated a consensus statement of 10 points, which are here proposed as ethical guidelines that should inform, at the level of legislations and institutional policies, the way conscientious objections in healthcare is regulated. The 10 points are the following:
Announcement: Research Fellow – Global Terrorism and Collective Moral Responsibility
Applications are invited for a full-time Research Fellow in Philosophy to conduct research and related activities for the ERC Advanced Grant Research Project Global Terrorism and Collective Moral Responsibility: Redesigning Military, Police and Intelligence Institutions in Liberal Democracies (the ‘Project’) under the supervision and direction of Professor Seumas Miller (Principal Investigator). The Fellow will conduct research at the interface between the international laws and moral principles pertaining to counter-terrorism.
The post is fixed-term for 4 years from the date of appointment which is anticipated to be October 2016. The multi-disciplinary Project is hosted partly at the University of Oxford and partly at Delft University of Technology but this post is fully located in central Oxford at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, which is part of the Faculty of Philosophy; the Director of the Uehiro Centre is Professor Julian Savulescu.
The postholder will conduct collaborative research in moral philosophy, applied ethics and international law relevant to the Project’s research themes. Collaborative research will include the provision of research assistance for Professor Miller and literature reviews, the postholder will also participate in other project activities such as grant applications, event planning, preparation of policy papers, public engagement, development of collaborations and other occasional duties.
The postholder is to have received the degree of PhD (or equivalent) in philosophy by the start date. Also essential are excellent research skills, an outstanding research record and proven track record in publishing articles in philosophy with a specialism relevant to the Project. Experience of working at the interface of international laws and moral principles pertaining to counter-terrorism is desirable.
Applications must be made online no later than 12.00 midday on 5 September 2016.
Announcement: 2016 Effective Altruism Global Research Meeting Call for Abstracts
Location: August 5th to 7th, University of California, Berkeley
Abstract Deadline: July 10th
Contact: researchmeeting@centerforeffectivealtruism.org
Overview
The 2016 Effective Altruism Global Research Meeting is an opportunity for Postgraduate students and early stage academics from a variety of disciplines to present research relevant to Effective Altruism. The meeting will take place on August 5th to 7th, 2016 at UC Berkeley alongside the Effective Altruism Global conference. The meeting will consist of two events, an academic poster session and a number of short oral presentations. Presentations will be awarded to the most exceptional submissions. Participants selected for presentations will still have the option to present a poster.
The Effective Altruism movement, which promotes the use of reason and evidence to determine the most effective ways to improve the world, has grown rapidly over the last three years. It is an interdisciplinary movement which has gained traction amongst academics in a wide range of fields, including Philosophy, Economics and Health. Last year’s Effective Altruism Global conference welcomed renowned philosopher Peter Singer and behavioral economist Dan Ariely, as well as 1000 attendees. This year, our speakers include Philip Tetlock (author of Superforecasting), Cass Sunstein (legal scholar and former Administrator of the White House OIRA), Thomas Kalil (Deputy Director for Technology and Innovation at the White House OSTP), Jaan Tallinn (Co-Founder of Skype) and Irene Pepperberg (noted animal cognition scientist).
Effective Altruism Global’s featured topics include discussions of the replication crisis, prediction markets, decision making under uncertainty, CRISPR, our obligations to the global poor, as well as a number of other topics that are important to shaping the future. The Research Meeting will run alongside Effective Altruism Global to give academics access to the large audience of interested attendees, and expose the more than 1,000 expected philanthropists, CEOs, and students to research relevant to Effective Altruism. Continue reading
Video Series: Dominic Wilkinson on Conscientious Objection in Healthcare
Associate Professor and Consultant Neonatologist Dominic Wilkinson (Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics) argues that medical doctors should not always listen to their own conscience and that often they should do what the patient requests, even when this conflicts with their own values.
Announcement: New Publication: Philosophers Take On the World
Philosophers Take On the World is based on this blog, ‘Practical Ethics in the News’, and edited by David Edmonds. It is published by OUP and is due out in September 2016.
Every day the news shows us provoking stories about what’s going on in the world, about events which raise moral questions and problems. In Philosophers Take On the World a team of philosophers get to grips with a variety of these controversial issues, from the amusing to the shocking, in short, engaging, often controversial pieces. Covering topics from guns to abortion, the morality of drinking alone, hating a sports team, and being rude to cold callers, the essays will make you think again about the judgments we make on a daily basis and the ways in which we choose to conduct our lives.
This item is not yet published, but may be pre-ordered now for delivery when available.
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/philosophers-take-on-the-world-9780198753728?cc=gb&lang=en&#
Published: 01 September 2016 (Estimated)
ISBN: 9780198753728
Announcement: Winners of the 2nd Annual Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics.
It is with great pleasure that we can announce the winners of the Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics 2016.
The joint winners of the Undergraduate Category are Carolina Flores Henrique, with her essay ‘Should feminists in rich countries shift their focus to international development?’ and Thomas Sittler with his essay ‘How should vegetarians actually live? A reply to Xavier Cohen’.
The winner of the Graduate Category is Joseph Bowen with his essay ‘Necessity and liability’.
The runner up in the Graduate Category is Benjamin Lange with his essay ‘Should you switch to an altruistic career?’
We wish congratulations to the five finalists for their excellent essays and presentations, and in particular to the winners of each category. We also send congratulations to all entrants in this prize.
Affiliations
Recent Comments