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Guest Post: The moral lessons of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Written by William Isdale University of Queensland This year is the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Are there any moral lessons we can learn from that historical episode? I think so. Recently I delivered a talk on radio about this topic. I argue that one key reason to study history…
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Guest Post: VW cheating like Obama
Written by Dr Nicholas Shackel Cardiff University Nothing annoys the plunderers more than when the producers try to get away with the tricks that they have reserved to themselves.
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Liberalism and inequality
by Joao Fabiano Why inequality matters Philosophers who argue that we should care about inequality often have some variation of a prioritarian view. For them, well-being matters more for those who are worse off, and we should prioritise improving their lives over the lives of others. Several others believe we should care about inequality because…
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Why It’s OK to Block Ads
Over the past couple of months, the practice of ad blocking has received heightened ethical scrutiny. (1,2,3,4) If you’re unfamiliar with the term, “ad blocking” refers to software—usually web browser plug-ins, but increasingly mobile apps—that stop most ads from appearing when you use websites or apps that would otherwise show them. Arguments against ad blocking…
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If I were you then I wouldn’t say that: The perils of giving and taking advice
Written by Andreas Kappes The school year just started, but surprisingly, the half-term break is already lurking around the corner, when children have a week off. For a lot of parents this implies seeing their own parents, having them take care of the kids. And whenever families come together, there will be many sentences starting…
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Sartre vs The Selfie: An Existentialist Critique of Selfie- Taking
Selfie-sticks are notoriously ubiquitous in modern society, and the art of ‘selfie-taking’ may well be something that future analysts identify as being one of the defining sociological trends of this period of history. In this post, I will discuss some passages from Sartre that help to explain my feeling of unease at this rampant ‘selfie-ism’.
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Guest Post: Should the army abandon their zero-tolerance policy on substance use?
Written by Anke Snoek Macquarie University In the UK around 500 soldiers each year get fired because they fail drug-testing. The substances they use are mainly recreational drugs like cannabis, XTC, and cocaine. Some call this a waste of resources, since new soldiers have to be recruited and trained, and call for a revision of…
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Why are unethical neonatal trials still taking place in developing countries?
By Dominic Wilkinson, @Neonatalethics Earlier this year, the Lancet published a trial (the ‘ACT’ trial) involving 100,000 babies at risk of being born prematurely in developing countries. Half of the mothers in the ACT trial did not receive a simple cheap medicine that has been previously shown in multiple trials and meta-analysis to reduce the…