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Rhodes Must Fall: Oxford’s Institutional Response
Written by Ben Davies I recently watched an excellent panel discussion, ‘Statues, Slavery and the Struggle for Equality’ with Labour MP Dawn Butler, historian David Olusoga, philosopher Susan Neiman, chaired by writer Yassmin Abdel-Magied. The discussion was wide-ranging but, as the title suggests, included a focus on the recent resurgence of demands to remove various…
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The Utilitarian Truth-Seeker
Written by Stefan Schubert Utilitarianism is often associated with two psychological features. First, acceptance of instrumental harm for the greater good. The utilitarian is famously willing to kill one to save five in the trolley problem. Second, impartial beneficence. The utilitarian is equally concerned with everyone’s well-being, irrespective of their gender, nationality, or species. And…
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Video Series: (Un)fair Access to Covid-19 Treatment in Mexico?
Widespread corruption and racism in Mexico created extra hurdles for the development of Mexico’s recently published federal guidelines for deciding who gets to access scarce medical resources (e.g. ventilators in the case of Covid-19). Dr César Palacios-González (Oxford), who helped develop these guidelines, talks about these challenges.
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Podcast and Event Summary: New St Cross Special Ethics Seminar: Medically Assisted Dying in Canada: from where we’ve come; to where we’re heading, presented by Professor Arthur Schafer (Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, University of Manitoba)
Written by: Dr Amna Whiston In this seminar (available on podcast), Professor Arthur Schafer discussed the ethical challenges involved in the Canadian euthanasia debate at the New St Cross Special Ethics Seminar (online). Professor Schafer, who has written extensively over the last thirty years about a range of topics that includes professional and bio-medical ethics,…
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Video Series: Which Non-Covid-19 Patients Should Get Treatment First?
In the UK we’re past the peak of the coronavirus pandemic but new ethical issues are arising: the healthcare system is now under enormous pressure – it’s working less efficiently than before (because of precautions to protect healthcare personnel), and there’s an enormous backlog of patients whose treatments have been put on hold. Which non-Covid-19…
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Pandemic Ethics: Utilitarianism and the Lockdown
by Roger Crisp Utilitarianism is in the news. It was widely believed that the UK government’s so-called ‘herd immunity’ strategy, which involved sacrificing the important interests of a relative few for the sake of benefits for the many, was motivated by a commitment to utilitarianism. Now several commentators around the world have suggested that decisions to ease…
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We’re All Vitalists Now
By Charles Foster It has been a terrible few months for moral philosophers – and for utilitarians in particular. Their relevance to public discourse has never been greater, but never have their analyses been so humiliatingly sidelined by policy makers across the world. The world’s governments are all, it seems, ruled by a rather crude…
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Pandemic Ethics: Compulsory treatment or vaccination versus quarantine
By Thomas Douglas, Jonathan Pugh and Lisa Forsberg Cross posted with the Journal of Medical Ethics Blog Governments worldwide have responded to the Covid-19 pandemic with sweeping constraints on freedom of movement, including various forms of isolation, quarantine, and ‘lockdown’. Governments have also introduced new legal instruments to guarantee the lawfulness of their measures. In…
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Contact-tracing apps and the future COVID-19 vaccination should be compulsory. Social, technological, and pharmacological immunisation
Written by Alberto Giubilini Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities – Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics University of Oxford Main point: Lockdown measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 have so far been compulsory in most countries. In the same way, use of contact tracing apps should be compulsory once lockdown measures…
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Announcement: Online Short Courses Open. Philosophy, Psychiatry and Mental Health, and Neuroethics
Applications are open to join our two June short courses on the ethics and philosophy of neuroscience, psychiatry, and mental health which will be run online this year. For details and how to apply: Neuroethics, 15-19 June Philosophy, Psychiatry and Mental Health, 22-26 June