A placebo can be understood as a medical intervention that lacks direct specific therapeutic effects on the condition for which it has been prescribed, but which can nonetheless help to ameliorate a patient’s condition. In March 2013, a stu…

Guest Post: Emilian Mihailov, Research Centre in Applied Ethics, Univeristy of Bucharest The most persuasive argument for experimenting on animals is probably the claim that it is only through such research, that we save human lives. This d…

Guest Post: Toni Gibea, University of Bucharest.  The Bucharest-Oxford Workshop in Applied Ethics, which took place in Oxford on the 1st of December, brought together researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Bucharest…

Several times this term I’ve staggered out onto Oxford station, cramped and queasy from Cattle Class, and seen packs of sleek suits ooze out of First Class, briefcases in their hands and predatory gleams in their eyes. ‘Let’s go hunting’, o…

Christmas is the season when prices, costs and value are on everybody’s mind. At least when trying to estimate how much a present is worth to a friend or family member (and the value of our own happiness at their happiness): is it rea…

A recent study purports to demonstrate that mindfulness meditation techniques can reduce implicit biases. Affecting all manner of interpersonal interactions, implicit biases are unconscious attitudes or associations that influence our under…

Guest Post by Jos Philips With Christmas and the new year fast approaching, Jos Philips reconsiders what role self-interest may legitimately play in what we are doing. Recently, a class of students of mine were discussing a well-known artic…

Guest Post by Catia Faria   It is commonly believed that our obligations towards other human beings are not restricted to abstaining from harming them. We should also prevent or alleviate harmful states of affairs for other individuals…

You might think that if it’s not wrong not to donate to charity, then it’s not wrong to give to whatever particular charity you choose (as long as no harm is done).  I’m going to argue against this view.  Very often, it is wrong to give to …

Guest Post by John Danaher (@JohnDanaher) This article is being cross-posted at Philosophical Disquisitions I recently published an unusual article. At least, I think it is unusual. It imagines a future in which sophisticated sex robots are…