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How much should we care about MPs’ expense claims?
Few people in the UK could have missed the furious storm about MPs’ expense claims that has dominated the news headlines for the past several weeks. A steady flow of stories has revealed not only which MPs bent the rules on expenses, but also that many of the rules are themselves objectionable and arguably facilitate a…
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Biting into the sour apple: liberal society, abortion rights and sex selection
The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare has recently declared that it is impossible to deny abortions to women who base their decision on the sex of the foetus. This ruling came about after a case where a woman twice aborted foetuses because they were female. This upset not only the medical personnel, but…
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Yad Vashem and the Pope
Today I just want to put a question. Pope Benedict is in Israel. When a visiting VIP is in Israel – and they don’t get more VI than the Pope – he or she is invariably taken to the Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. Walking around Yad Vashem is an overwhelming experience. As a museum it’s…
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Pandemic ethics: all pigs are equal
In the last few days the influenza pandemic has led to over 800 deaths, with another 240,000 expected in coming months. There has been rioting over the government response to the pandemic leading to 8 protesters and 7 police being injured. Hang on. Are we talking about the same pandemic?
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The flu paradox: is the WHO focusing too little on flu?
The WHO is in the news these days thanks to the H1N1 epidemic (alias the swine flu, or the Colbert flu), and it is doing an admirable job coordinating various national agencies in fighting a pandemic. Historically it has been at the forefront of fighting epidemic disease, whether tuberculosis or AIDS. However, since Gro Harlem…
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Ian Plimer’s climate change skepticism
Well known Australian geologist and climate skeptic Ian Plimer has recently released a new book in which he continues to push the case for climate change skepticism, entitled Heaven and Earth: Global Warming the Missing Science, and published by Connorcourt. See http://www.connorcourt.com/catalog1/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=103. See also http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25429080-7583,00.html. This is not the place to review the book.…
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Pandemic ethics: The boy who cried ‘flu’!
The headlines in the last week have been dramatic. California has declared a state of emergency. The World Health Organisation has raised its pandemic alert status to level 5 – its second highest level. The UK government is about to post leaflets to every household providing information on how to reduce spread of an outbreak…
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2009 Uehiro Lectures: Allen Buchanan on The Ethics of Biomedical Enhancement
Professor Allen Buchanan, James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy, Duke University will give a series of three lectures 'Beyond Humanity? The Ethics of Biomedical Enhancement' on Tuesdays May 5, May 12 and May 19 16.30 – 18.30 at the Martin Wood Lecture Theatre, Department of Physics, Parks Road, Oxford. ALL WELCOME no need to book
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Epistemic duty and conspiracies against the laity 2
Conspiracies against the laity frequently operate with an inverted morality. For example, honour among thieves includes the obligation not to snitch, that is to say, not to tell the truth about the wrongdoing of each other. By contrast, the professions have an epistemic duty to speak the truth about the success and failure of the…
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Intuitive pirates: why do we accept file sharing so much?
Piracy is in the headlines, whether in Somalian waters or Swedish cyberspace. A Stockholm court this friday found four men guilty of promoting copyright infringement by running the popular file-sharing site The Pirate Bay and sentenced them to one year in prison as well as a 30 million kronor fine (about $3.5 million). The case…