In defense of the double standard for chemical weapons
As the US and other nations gear up for war in Syria, the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime against civilians has received great, perhaps inordinate attention. A little over a year ago, US President Barack Obama called th…
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Twitter, paywalls, and access to scholarship — are license agreements too restrictive?
By Brian D. Earp Follow Brian on Twitter by clicking here. Twitter, paywalls, and access to scholarship — are license agreements too restrictive? I think I may have done something unethical today. But I’m not quite sure, dear r…
Read MorePolitical Change and the Olympic Games
by Luke Davies The upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi has been in the news a lot recently. The controversy, as you will already know, is a result the introduction of another law discriminating against the LGBT community in Russia—Article 6.2…
Read MoreIs unwanted pregnancy a medical disorder?
by Rebecca Roache Follow Rebecca on Twitter Abortion is often in the news. Yesterday, The Atlantic Wire reported a poll of Americans’ moral views, which found just under half of Americans believe abortion is morally wrong. Today, The Sun is…
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Let’s Talk About Death: Millennials and Advance Directives
Sarah Riad, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Boston Melissa Hickey, School of Nursing, Avila University Kyle Edwards, Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford As advances in medical techno…
Read MoreSafety First? How the Current Drug Approval System Lets Some Patients Down
Andrew Culliford, whose story is featured in the Daily Mail, is one of the estimated 7 in 100,000 people living with Motor Neuron disease, a progressive degenerative disease which attacks muscles, leaving those affected eventually unable ev…
Read MoreCan Facts Be Racist?
Here is the sequence of events. 1. Richard Dawkins tweets that all the world’s Muslims have fewer Nobel Prizes than Trinity College Cambridge. 2. Cue a twitter onslaught – accusing Professor Dawkins of racism. 3. Richard Dawkins writes t…
Read MoreJane Austen’s Ring: Should We Care?
Ed Vaizey, the culture minister, recently put an export ban on a ring once owned by Jane Austen, bought legitimately by the US singer Kelly Clarkson at auction last year. Why? Because, apparently, the ring is too important a part of our lit…
Read MoreWould you hand over a moral decision to a machine? Why not? Moral outsourcing and Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence and Human Decision-making. Recent developments in artificial intelligence are allowing an increasing number of decisions to be passed from human to machine. Most of these to date are operational decisions – such as a…
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Dangerous dogs and proportionate sentencing
The government is currently consulting on whether the maximum sentences for aggravated offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 should be increased. This offence category covers cases in which someone allows a dog to be dangerously out of…
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