European Guidelines: How much cinnamon can go in our buns, and what kind of dignity do we want at the end of life?
Over on the Ethox blog Angeliki Kerasidou and Ruth Horn discuss the European Union and the need for cultural understanding between member states, with a focus on the concept of dignity at the end of life. The results of the recent European …
Read MoreQuebec legalises assisted-death: should other states follow?
Last month Quebec legalised assisted-death. The new law allows ‘medical aid in dying’ for adults at the end of life who suffer “constant and unbearable physical or psychological pain” as a result of a “serious and incurable illness”. The pa…
Read MoreWhat has Facebook (with some psychologists) done?
In my academic and musty corner of the universe, there has been a lot of talk in the past few days about this publication in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers tweaked a Facebook algorithm such that…
Read MoreJPE 2(1) – The pursuit of sex equality keeps going off the rails
So claims renowned Oxford philosopher and feminist Janet Radcliffe Richards. Professor Radcliffe Richards is the author of The Sceptical Feminist, Human Nature After Darwin and Careless Thought Costs Lives: the ethics of transplants. She w…
Read MoreHorizon 2020 and The Role of Lay People’s Perspectives in Bioethical Reasoning
By Kimberly Schelle & Nadira Faulmüller Horizon 2020, the European Union’s 2014-2020 largest research programme ever, includes the call to pursue ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’ (RRI). RRI stands for a research and innovation proc…
Read MoreDrinking alcohol or using drugs during pregnancy could become a crime
Recently a neuroscientist discovered he was a psychopath. He was studying the brain scans of psychopaths, and intended to use some brain scans of family members and one of himself for the control group. Now one of the brain scans from the c…
Read MoreTaking Rape Allegations Seriously: How Should We Treat the Accused?
Last week, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that it would not pursue further action against Oxford Union president Ben Sullivan, due to insufficient evidence arising from an investigation into the two accusations of rape and attempte…
Read MoreDo Not Attempt Resuscitation orders: should you discuss with the patient?
The Court of Appeal has stated that a statement in a capacitous patient’s medical notes that resuscitation should not be attempted (a ‘Do Not Attempt Resuscitation’ Order – DNAR), should usually only be inserted after consultation with the …
Read MoreShould Vegetarians Consider Eating Insects?
In the last few years, there has been a push from various bodies—including the UN—to get Western countries to adopt eating insects as an alternative to meat. Insects have been hailed as a type of super food. They are: rich in protein; envir…
Read MoreDestroying one ecosystem and constructing another: biodiversity offsetting and particular value
Suppose that the government is proposing a new policy regarding buildings of historical significance. Rather than simply banning the destruction of ‘listed’ buildings, the new policy would allow their destruction, provided that …
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