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Hard Choices, Fredkin’s Paradox and is Ethics a Waste of Time?
Think back to the last time you were faced with a really great menu in a restaurant. Loads of options, all of them appealing. Plus you’re very hungry. Culinary choices, though typically trivial, can also be hard. This is because it can be tricky to make comparisons – and to judge what’s best – across…
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The Function of Cynicism at the Present Time
Written by Roger Crisp Last month, Helen Small, Merton Professor of English Language and Literature, gave a fascinating and wide-ranging presentation in the New St Cross Special Ethics Seminar Series, on the function of cynicism at the present time. She is currently writing a book on the topic with the support of a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship.
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Moral Responsibility and Interventions
Written by Gabriel De Marco Consider a story about Joe, Louie, and Dr. White. Joe is a gambling man and has been for much of his life. In his late twenties, Joe began to gamble occasionally and after a while, he decided that he would embrace this practice of gambling. Although Joe gambles fairly often,…
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The Fundamental Ethical Flaw in Jiankui He’s Alleged Gene Editing Experiment
By Julian Savulescu Chinese researcher Jiankui He of Shenzhen claims to have gene edited two healthy embryos, resulting in the birth of baby girls born this month, Lulu and Nana. He edited a gene to make the babies resistant to HIV. One girl has both copies of the gene modified while the other has only…
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Harnessing the Power of Moral Identity to Improve Morality
Written by Doug McConnell Over the last 25 years there has been an explosion of psychological research investigating the influence of ‘moral identity’ on agency with a recent meta-analysis of 111 studies concluding that people’s moral identity has as much of an effect on agency is either their moral emotion or powers of moral reasoning…
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Press Statement: Monstrous Gene Editing Experiment
Chinese researcher He Jiankui of Shenzhen claims to have gene edited two healthy embryos, resulting in the birth of baby girls born this month, Lulu and Nana. He edited a gene to make the babies resistant to HIV. One girl has both copies of the gene modified while the other has only one (making her…
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Cross Post: Fresh Urgency in Mapping Out Ethics of Brain Organoid Research
Written by Julian Koplin, University of Melbourne and Julian Savulescu, University of Oxford This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Researchers have grown groups of brain cells in the lab – known as ‘organoids’ – that produce brain waves resembling those found in premature infants.…
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Cross Post: What If Banks Were the Main Protectors of Customers’ Private Data?
Written by Carissa Véliz Dr Carissa Véliz, Oxford Uehiro Centre research fellow, has recently published a provocative article in the Harvard Business Review: The ability to collect and exploit consumers’ personal data has long been a source of competitive advantage in the digital economy. It is their control and use of this data that has…
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Announcement: Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics
Graduate and undergraduate students currently enrolled at the University of Oxford in any subject are invited to enter the Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics by submitting an essay of up to 2000 words on any topic relevant to practical ethics. Eligibility includes visiting students who are registered as recognized students, and paying fees, but…
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The Dangers of Biography
By Charles Foster A friend of mine has written a brilliant and justly celebrated biography. I am worried about her, and about her readers. The biography is brilliant and engaging precisely because of the degree of rapport the author has established with her subject, and the rapport she brokers between her subject and her readers.…