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28Informal Coercion in the Physical Care of Patients Suffering from Senile Dementia or Mental RetardationNursing Ethics 6 (4): 327-336. 1999.This article discusses under what circumstances patients who are suffering from senile dementia or mental retardation should be submitted to coercive care, who should decide about this kind of coercion, and in what legal framework it should take place. A distinction is drawn between modest (i.e. of moderate degree) and meddlesome coercion. The use of modest coercion is defended. It is argued that medical personnel ought to decide exclusively about the use of modest coercion. However, no law shou…Read more
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27Against libertyJournal of Value Inquiry 18 (2): 83-97. 1984.There are no private particular actions that should be altogether free of social interference. No absolute distinction can be made between types of actions affecting others and those affecting only the agent. Relative to a purpose in formulating an act of law, for instance, such a distinction can, however, be made. The idea of social freedom could therefore be thought to imply that even if there are no absolutely private particular actions, and even if society could interfere for any purpose to …Read more
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25Setting Health-Care Priorities. What Ethical Theories Tell Us. A Response to My CriticsDiametros 18 (68): 60-70. 2021.The article provides answers to comments in this journal on my recent book, Setting Health-Care Priorities. What Ethical Theories Tell Us. Did I address all of the relevant theories? Yes, I did. Was my argument underdeveloped in any respects? Yes, at least in one as I should perhaps have discussed contractual ethical thinking more carefully. I do so in this response. Moreover, the critical comments raised have helped me to clarify my argument in many ways, for which I thank my critics.
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2415 The genetic design of a new AmazonIn Claudio Marcello Tamburrini & Torbjörn Tännsjö (eds.), Genetic Technology and Sport: Ethical Questions, Routledge. pp. 181. 2005.
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22CommentaryJournal of Medical Ethics 31 (2): 113-113. 2005.To resort to hypoxic air machines—would that be to cheat? This clearly depends on whether such machines are prohibited or not. So the important question is this: Should sport authorities prohibit them or not?One way of approaching this question may be to argue casuistically. Erythropoietin is prohibited. Blood doping is prohibited. Training at high altitude is allowed. Does the hypoxic air machine bear more resemblance to training at high altitude than to the use of EPO? If that is the case it s…Read more
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21Moral RealismPhilosophical Quarterly 42 (169): 514. 1992.'...the book is very dense with ideas...arguments concerning innumerable interesting points are always worth pondering.'-THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW
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21Hedonistic UtilitarianismEdinburgh University Press. 1998.This volume presents a comprehensive statement in defense of the doctrine known as classical, hedonistic utilitarianism. It is presented as a viable alternative in the search for a moral theory and the claim is defended that we need such a theory. The book offers a distinctive approach and some quite controversial conclusions. Torbjorn Tannsjo challenges the assumption that hedonistic utilitarianism is at variance with common sense morality particularly as viewed through the perspective of the m…Read more
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20A concrete view of intrinsic valueIn Toni Rønnow-Rasmussen & Michael J. Zimmerman (eds.), Recent Work on Intrinsic Value, Springer. pp. 207--211. 1999.
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17The secular model of the multi‐cultural stateInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 38 (1-2): 109-117. 1995.On what model should a modern multi?cultural democracy work? Spinosa et al. have argued that the political order should be sustained by a set of common values instilled in the citizens, without, however, any common rank order among these values. I argue that the multi?cultural state should rather conform to what I call the Secular Model, according to which the citizens need not share any basic values at all. On the Secular Model, people individually stick to the existing constitution (only) as l…Read more
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16Neuro-Doping as a Means to Avert Fascistoid Ideology in Elite SportNeuroethics 14 (2): 169-178. 2020.Assume that neuro-doping is safe and efficient. This means that the use of it, and similar future safe methods of enhancement in sport, may help those who are naturally weak to catch up with those who are naturally strong and sometimes even defeat them. The rationale behind anti-doping measures seem to presuppose that this is unfair. But the idea that those who are naturally strong should defeat those who are naturally weak rests on a fascistoid ideology that sport had better leave behind. Neuro…Read more
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15In Defence of Theory in EthicsCanadian Journal of Philosophy 25 (4): 571-593. 1995.Particularism is in vogue in ethics today. Particularism is sometimes described as the idea that what is a sufficient moral reason in one situation need not be a sufficient moral reason in another situation. Indeed, it has been held, on particularism, what is a reason for an action in one situation might be a reason against the same type of action, or might not be a reason at all, in another situation. However, this description is insufficient. Even a generalist, such as a utilitarian, may admit…Read more
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15Recidivist Punishments: The Philosopher's View (edited book)Lexington Books. 2011.Much has been written about recidivist punishments, particularly within the area of criminology. However there is a notorious lack of penal philosophical reflection on this issue. This book attempts to fill that gap by presenting the philosopher’s view on this matter as a way of furthering the debate on recidivist punishments
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15Moral doubts about strict materialismInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 30 (4): 451-458. 1987.It is argued that there are moral costs of our accepting ‘strict materialism’, the view that there is no such phenomenon as an irreducible first‐person point of view. If we accept strict materialism, then we have to give up some considered moral views, such as the principle of an agent‐relative morality and the hedonistic principle. The necessity involved is not logical, however, but pragmatic. Strict materialism does not imply that these moral views are false; it is our belief in them that is u…Read more
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15Setting Health-Care Priorities: A Reply to Massimo ReichlinDiametros. forthcoming.This is a short reply to Professor Reichlin’s comment on my book Setting Health-Care Priorities. What Ethical Theories Tell Us. The version of prioritarianism I rely on in the book is defended as the most plausible one. The general claim that there is convergence between all plausible theories on distributive justice is also defended with regard to assisted reproduction, disability, and enhancement.
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15Ought We to Sentence People to Psychiatric Treatment?Bioethics 11 (3-4): 298-308. 1997.In principle, there seem to be three main ways in which society can react when people commit crimes under influence of mental illness. (1) The standard model. We excuse them. If they are dangerous they are detained in the interest of safety of the rest of the citizens. (2) The Swedish model. We hold them responsible for their criminal offence, we convict them, but we do not sentence them to jail. Instead, we sentence them to psychiatric treatment. (3) My model. We sentence them to jail, but offe…Read more
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14From dawn till dusk. bioethical insights into the beginning and the end of lifeBioethics 34 (5): 557-558. 2020.Bioethics, EarlyView.
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14Neuro-Doping as a Means to Avert Fascistoid Ideology in Elite SportNeuroethics 14 (Suppl 2): 1-10. 2020.Assume that neuro-doping is safe and efficient. This means that the use of it, and similar future safe methods of enhancement in sport, may help those who are naturally weak to catch up with those who are naturally strong and sometimes even defeat them. The rationale behind anti-doping measures seem to presuppose that this is unfair. But the idea that those who are naturally strong should defeat those who are naturally weak rests on a fascistoid ideology that sport had better leave behind. Neuro…Read more
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13Understanding Ethics (3rd ed.)Edinburgh University Press. 2013.How can we find true or reasonable moral principles to live our everyday lives by? Torbjorn Tannsjo presents 7 radically different moral theories - utilitarianism, egoism, deontological ethics, the ethics of rights, virtue ethics, feminist ethics, environmental or ecological ethics - each of which attempts to provide the ultimate answer to the question of what we ought to do and why. He carefully describes each theory, showing how it works in practice using the "e;trolley problem"e; thou…Read more
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10Moral RealismRowman & Littlefield Publishers. 1989.'...the book is very dense with ideas...arguments concerning innumerable interesting points are always worth pondering.'-THE PHILOSOPHICAL REVIEW.
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6Setting Health-Care Priorities: A Reply to Piotr LichaczRoczniki Filozoficzne 70 (2): 259-264. 2022.I discuss the comments from Professor Piotr Lichacz on my book, Setting Health-Care Priorities. What Ethical Theories Tell Us. The idea that our reluctance to let go of life and abstain from marginal life extension is irrational is defended against his criticism. The methodology used in the book—urging us to rely in our testing on ethical theories on the content of our considered moral intuitions—is explained at length and the notion of cognitive psychotherapy involved in it is defended.
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5From Despotism to Democracy: How a World Government Can Save HumanitySpringer Nature Singapore. 2023.This book is about how best to respond to existential global threats posed by war and global heating. The stakes have become existential. A strong claim in the book is that we need a world state to save humanity. The book sheds new light on why this is so. The present author has long advocated global democracy. A strong argument against global democracy has been, however, that no state has ever been established without the resort to violence. In this book, the author bites the bullet and advocat…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Normative Ethics |