First synthetic embryos: the scientific breakthrough raises serious ethical questions
synthetic mouse. Weizmann Institute of Sciences Julian Savulescu, University of Oxford; Christopher Gyngell, The University of Melbourne, and Tsutomu Sawai, Hiroshima University Children, even some who are too young for school, know you can…
Read MoreVideo Interview: Prof Peter Railton, AI and moral obligations
In this Thinking Out Loud interview with Katrien Devolder, Philosophy Professor Peter Railton presents his take on how to understand, and interact with, AI. He talks about how AI can have moral obligations towards us, humans, and towards ea…
Read MorePress release: Battersbee appeal at European Court declined
by Dominic Wilkinson @Neonatalethics Tonight, the European Court responded to Archie’s parents’ request for a final appeal against the decision by a series of UK courts to end the treatment keeping him alive. What happened in the Eu…
Read MoreSex and Punishment: How Old Do You Have to Be?
By Maximilian Kiener In March 2022, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte signed a bill that increased the minimum age for sexual consent from 12 to 16 years. This bill marked a significant change to a previous law that dated back to…
Read MorePress release: Battersbee final* appeal rejected
by Dominic Wilkinson In the latest legal hearing, in a long running dispute about treatment for brain-injured 12 year old Archie Battersbee, the Court of Appeal yesterday rejected his family’s request to delay stopping treatment until a UN …
Read MoreEpistemic Diligence and Honesty
Written by Rebecca Brown All else being equal, it is morally good for agents to be honest. That is, agents shouldn’t, without good reason, engage in non-honest behaviours such as lying, cheating or stealing. What counts as a ‘good reason’ w…
Read MoreEvent Summary: Hope in Healthcare – a talk by Professor Steve Clarke
In a special lecture on 14 June 2022, Professor Steve Clarke presented work co-authored with Justin Oakley, ‘Hope in Healthcare’. It is widely supposed that it is important to imbue patients undergoing medical procedures with a …
Read MoreCan You Really Do More than What Duty Requires?
By Roger Crisp Your legal duties are what the law demands of you: to pay your taxes, not to park on yellow lines. Moral duties are what morality demands of you: to keep your promises, not to kill the innocent. Most think it’s possible to &#…
Read MoreThe Morality of Sending Asylum Seekers to Rwanda
Written by Doug McConnell The government has recently claimed that their policy to send asylum seekers on a one-way trip to Rwanda as part of the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership is “completely moral” and responds to…
Read MoreThe Homeric Power of Advance Directives
By Charles Foster [Image: Ulysses and the Sirens: John William Waterhouse, 1891: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne] We shouldn’t underestimate Homer’s hold on us. Whether or not we’ve ever read him, he created many o…
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