• By looking at the situations faced by the protagonists of two classic plays , I try to shed light on what it means to face an insoluble moral dilemma, what it might mean to deal with it, and how the dilemma can reveal certain crucial information about the decision-maker to us readers-spectators, to other characters in the play who witness, or are implicated by, the incident, as well as, and perhaps most importantly, to the protagonist himself. In so doing, I distinguish the above dilemmas from m…Read more
  •  161
    Euthanasia in psychiatry can never be justified. A reply to Wijsbek
    Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 34 (3): 227-238. 2013.
    In a recent article, Henri Wijsbek discusses the 1991 Chabot “psychiatric euthanasia” case in the Netherlands, and argues that Chabot was justified in helping his patient to die. Dutch legislation at the time permitted physician assisted suicide when the patient’s condition is severe, hopeless, and unbearable. The Dutch Supreme Court agreed with Chabot that the patient met these criteria because of her justified depression, even though she was somatically healthy. Wijsbek argues that in this cas…Read more
  •  75
    A New Rejection of Moral Expertise
    Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 8 (3): 273-279. 2005.
    There seem to be two clearly-defined camps in the debate over the problem of moral expertise. On the one hand are the “Professionals”, who reject the possibility entirely, usually because of the intractable diversity of ethical beliefs. On the other hand are the “Ethicists”, who criticise the Professionals for merely stipulating science as the most appropriate paradigm for discussions of expertise. While the subject matter and methodology of good ethical thinking is certainly different from that…Read more
  •  33
    The Role of Perspectives in Ethics
    Ethical Perspectives 13 (1): 11-30. 2006.
    Most modern moral philosophy is what I call ‘Impersonalist.’ It claims, quite plausibly, that the particular identity of the moral agent has nothing to do with the rightness or bestness of a given course of action, with the overriding moral reasons supporting such an action, nor with the moral obligation placed upon the agent to perform it.In addition, the Impersonalist account assumes what I call a Humean model of practical reasoning, whereby perception, deliberation, decision, and action are a…Read more
  • Richard Terdiman, Body and Story: The Ethics and Practice of Theoretical Conflict Reviewed by
    with Alena Dvorakova
    Philosophy in Review 26 (3): 225-227. 2006.
  •  66
    Conscientious objection in healthcare and the duty to refer
    Journal of Medical Ethics 43 (4): 207-212. 2017.
    Although some healthcare professionals have the legal right to conscientiously object to authorise or perform certain lawful medical services, they have an associated duty to provide the patient with enough information to seek out another professional willing to authorise or provide the service (the ‘duty to refer’). Does the duty to refer morally undermine the professional's conscientious objection (CO)? I narrow my discussion to the National Health Service in Britain, and the case of a general…Read more