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Medical Nihilism: When A Dose Of Scepticism Can Be Healthy
In his 2018 book, the philosopher of science, Jacob Stegenga defends the view “that we should have little confidence in the effectiveness of medical interventions.” (Stegenga 2018) On the face of it, he acknowledges, this position seems unreasonable: most of us can think of myriad ways in which modern medicine has improved – perhaps saved…
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The Re-Greening of Abraham
By Charles Foster Some odd alliances are being forged in this strange new world, I well remember, a few years ago, the open hostility shown by dreadlocked, shamanic, eco-warriors towards the Abrahamic monotheisms. They’d spit when they passed a church. The rhetoric of their distaste was predictable. The very notion of a creed was anathema…
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‘Now Is Not The Time’: Is It Wrong To Engage In Political Debate Following A Tragedy?
Written by Alexandra Couto and Guy Kahane In the days following the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February 2018, many of the surviving students and staff gathered to demand immediate change to the gun laws that allowed Nicholas Cruz to kill so many of their friends and pupils. Many students held banners on which…
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The Gulf Between Japanese and English Google Image Search
By Anri Asagumo, Oxford Uehiro/St Cross Scholar, (with input from Dr Tom Douglas and Dr Carissa Veliz) Trigger Warning: This article deals with sexual violence, which could be potentially upsetting for some people. Although Google claims in its policy that it restricts promotion of adult-oriented content, there is a district in the online world…
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Entitlement
Written by Stephen Rainey It is often claimed, especially in heated Twitter debates, that one or other participant is entitled to their opinion. Sometimes, if someone encounters a challenge to their picture of the world, they will retort that they are entitled to their opinion. Or, maybe in an attempt to avoid confrontation, disagreement is…
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The Ethics of Gently Electrifying Prisoners’ Brains
By Hazem Zohny and Tom Douglas Scientists who want to study the effects of passing electric currents through prisoners’ brains have a PR problem: it sounds shady. Even if that electric current is so small as to go largely unnoticed by its recipient – as in the case of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) –…
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Harmful Choices and Vaccine Refusal
By Dominic Wilkinson @Neonatalethics Last week, medical specialists in the US reported a case of severe tetanus in an unvaccinated 6 year old child, (who I will call ‘C’). The boy had had a minor cut, but six days later he developed intense painful muscle spasms and was rushed to hospital. (Tetanus used to…
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Is there a Moral Problem with the Gig Economy?
by Roger Crisp Nearly all of us have been involved with the so-called ‘gig economy’ in some way or other, whether by calling an Uber or by ordering a pizza via Deliveroo. Indeed my elder daughter was a ‘Roo’ for a while (not long, I’m glad to say), so I have had some insight, albeit…
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Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics: Do Jurors Have a Moral Obligation to Avoid Deadlock?
This essay was the runner up in the undergraduate category of the 5th Annual Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics Written by University of Oxford student Angelo Ryu 1. Introduction Many legal systems have juries decide cases of an especially grave nature. Because a jury consists of a group of individual jurors, they need a…
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Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics: Question: Can soldiers justify killing some as a means to influence the decisions of others?
This essay received an honourable mention in the 5th Annual Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics, Graduate Category. Written by University of Oxford DPhil student, Robert Underwood. Lt. Col. Bob Underwood is a U.S. Army officer and a Fellow in its Advanced Strategic Plans and Policy Program. He is pursuing a DPhil in Philosophy…