-
Is Morality Flimflam?
Michael Ruse begins a recent short essay on what Darwin might teach us about morality with a striking question and an even more striking answer: ‘God is dead, so why should I be good? The answer is that there are no grounds whatsoever for being good. There is no celestial headmaster who is going to…
-
Climate scientists behaving badly? Part 6: Conclusion
One of the consequences of the epistemic corruption of the climate issue is that by criticising the failings in epistemic duty of these scientists I will be seen as having taken a side. But there are no sides on factual issues: there are just the facts. Once we see a factual question in terms of…
-
Should the NHS pay for homeopathic remedies?
Homeopathy is form of alternative medicine which was first developed in the late 18th Century and has been hovering on the fringes of medicine ever since. Homeopathic remedies are prepared by a process of extreme dilution of a harmful substance and it is claimed by homeopaths that a substance taken in very small…
-
Choose Your Sex: Male, Female or Neither … or Both
In Australia, Norrie is understood to be the world’s first person to have ‘Sex Not Specified’ on their birth certificate. The NSW government has legally recognised that Norrie is neither male nor female. “Norrie, 48, was born in Scotland and registered as male at birth. At age 23 Norrie commenced sex and gender conversion to…
-
‘Happiness is not the only thing’
Over at the New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert discusses some new books on the policy implications of so-called 'positive psychology'. Positive psychologists set out to use scientific methods to study, not suffering, depression and psychopatholoy, but the good things in life: what makes people happy, and what doesn't. The most remarkable set of findings of this…
-
Should parents be allowed to pick their children’s sex for non-medical reasons?
Once upon a time, there were a queen and a king who had three children, all of them boys. They both loved their children dearly and made sure they had everything they might need to flourish. Nevertheless, the queen and her husband still felt that their family was incomplete without a daughter. They had hoped…
-
How should we address the organ shortage problem?
Israel has come up with a new answer. In Israel, many orthodox Jews will accept an organ but have religious objections to donating one. It has one of the lowest organ donation rates. So there is a move to change this: sign a donor card, and you and your family move up in line for…
-
I Don’t Care Too Much for Money, Money Can’t Buy Me Lungs
Is it true that “everyone’s a winner”, as Julian Savulescu suggested recently on this blog , if we price life and body parts? Let’s accept that if there is a valid objection to buying and selling body parts, it must be grounded in the recognition of a harm that would come to some person or…
-
Going Green Makes You Mean … and Distracts You
When doing something is worse than doing nothingBy: Julian Savulescu According to a study reported in the Guardian, when people feel they have been morally virtuous by saving the planet through their purchases of organic baby food, for example, it leads to the "licensing [of] selfish and morally questionable behaviour", otherwise known as "moral balancing"…
-
The Great Egg Raffle – Why Everyone’s a Winner If We Price Life and Body Parts
By: Julian Savulescu Imagine someone offered you £1 000 000 to cross a busy road. There is a small chance you might lose your life or a limb. But most people would accept the chance. I certainly would. We do that kind of thing every day for trivial reasons, such as to buy a packet…