Until fairly recently, I thought I’d met people who could be described as moral relativists. But I recently met someone who’s made me wonder whether they were the real deal. The “relativists” I’d met previously were, broadly, people who make the claim that moral statements do not have the same universal applicability as statements that […]
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Organs and Payment: cui bono?
Dipping in and out of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics’ recent report on organ donation (available in various forms from this page), I’ve been struck by a couple of things. One is that the Council is painfully keen to maintain its distance from the idea that organs – especially those from live donors – could […]
Why Use Close Genes?
Real life showing signs of coming back under control, it’s nice to be back blogging again. Hopefully I’ll be up to speed soon. To get back into the swing of things, there’s an interesting post from Ole Martin Moen on the Practical Ethics blog. It’s only short, so I’ll reproduce almost fully here. Today, if […]
Exporting and Using Medical Equipment
A student writes: I am a 5th Year Medical Student involved in a charity organisation that collects medical goods that are recycled/past expiry dates but still in good condition for re-use/excess from stocks, and aims to provide more impoverished clinics and hospitals abroad with these goods through students’ electives. I have been trying to find […]
Public Lecture: Mary Midgley on Death and the Human Animal
Via the Centre for Medical Humanities blog: Royal Institute of Philosophy Public Lecture Mary Midgley – Newcastle University Death and the Human Animal Wednesday 19th October 2011, 5pm – 7pm (freshments available from 5pm) The Henry Dyson room, the college of St Hild and St Bede, Durham. The abstract’s below the fold. […]
Philosophy on the Radio
You’re all probably way ahead of me on this, but there’s a series called The Philosopher’s Arms currently enjoying a run on Radio 4. The premise of the programme is that philosophical questions are discussed in the context of a conversation in the pub – which has, of course, been the traditional haunt of philosophers […]
Is health promotion aimed at the wrong target?
I recently enjoyed this article by Ben Goldacre in the Guardian on vitamin pills and risk compensation – basically arguing that placebos are not harmless, because if we feel we have improved our health then we may take more risks in other areas. […]
Blogging hiatus
Bit quiet around here, isn’t it? Don’t worry (just in case you were): we’ve not gone away; real life has made a temporary intrusion, and I think the same is true for David. We’ll be back soon. […]
Assisted Suicide and the Courts: Lather, Rinse, Repeat.
“Martin”‘s story has been generating a reasonable amount of media and blog attention over the lat few days. (Udo Schuklenk considers some of the Telegraph‘s coverage, for example, and finds it severely wanting.) Paralysed after a stroke, “Martin” wants help to end his life; but his wife doesn’t want to be the one to help […]
Reiki Research: Not Quite the Maddest thing on the Net.
Right now, physicists are pondering the fallout from the collision of high-energy particles. (Probably.) And I, for my part, am pondering the fallout from the collision of high-energy nonsense. Having had this brought to my attention, I’m led fairly quickly to this, then this, and, finally, this Mail on Sunday piece. All the links refer to […]