Is it any of your doctor’s business whether you text and drive?
by Dominic Wilkinson "Absolutely!" is the answer of Boston physician Amy Ship writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, and interviewed over at the LA Times blog. She includes questions about seatbelts and phone use while dr…
Read MoreTorture, but do no harm
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration redefined acts that were previously recognised as torture and thus illegal as ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ (EITs). From then on subjecting detainees to, for example, f…
Read MoreDrugs in Sport debate and special edition
Over the next month Oxford Online Debates will be tackling the motion "Performance enhancing drugs should be allowed in sport". We will try to collect together relevant materials and blog posts below in this special edition.
Read MoreThe ethics of geoengineering – comments welcome
Should we encourage or avoid large scale environmental manipulation, for example in order to reduce climate change? Measures such as carbon dioxide capture or ocean iron fertilisation have the potential to mitigate global warming, but what …
Read MoreEthics commentary – Fraught with peril
One issue emerging from the recent media circus over Craig Venter’s apparent creation of a synthetic life form is the potential danger … of ethics commentary itself.
Read MoreThe Brainy or the Rich: who should inherit the Earth?
Does it matter if Britain is ruled by toffs? Nineteen British Prime Ministers attended one extremely expensive boarding school for boys on the far western outskirts of London, an astonishing statistic. David Cameron is the latest Old Etonia…
Read MorePaying people to lose weight
Winton Rossiter, of London weight-loss firm 'Weight Wins', was in the news this week, following the completion of a trial in which obese patients were paid to lose weight.
Read MoreBioethics and enhancement – an interview with Julian Savulescu
Interview by Olga Campos, Mª Ángeles Arráez, Miguel Moreno, Francisco Lara, Pedro Francés, and Javier Rodríguez Alcázar in Dilemata No 3 2010
Read MorePutting GM in a Lead Coffin
by Julian Savulescu It is time to put the GM debate in a lead-lined coffin. To lay it finally to rest. And get things in perspective again.
Read MorePhilosophers’ Carnival CIX
by Dominic Wilkinson Roll up, roll up for the 109th Philosophers' Carnival… There weren't a huge number of submissions, so the following is partly drawn from my own wanderings across the blogosphere. Thanks for all those who d…
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