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10Ethics briefingJournal of Medical Ethics 47 (12): 843-844. 2021.### Challenge to the abortion act 1967 dismissed In September, the High Court dismissed a judicial review of the Abortion Act 1967 that sought a judgement of incompatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights.1 The case focused on a clause in the Act which permits abortion in England, Scotland and Wales after 24 weeks if there is a substantial risk that, if the child were born, it would suffer from ‘such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped’. The case was bro…Read more
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6Ethics briefing – August 2021Journal of Medical Ethics 47 (10): 715-716. 2021.As the COVID-19 vaccine roll out continues apace, in the higher-income countries at least, concerns remain about the level of vaccine coverage in some health and social care settings. Although most countries have seen a relatively high uptake of vaccination against COVID-19 among staff, there continue to be some pockets of hesitancy. The risk of outbreaks in settings with potentially very vulnerable patients has led some governments across Europe to consider, or to introduce, measures compelling…Read more
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9Ethics briefingJournal of Medical Ethics 47 (8): 587-588. 2021.In June 2021, the BMA published its report on moral distress and moral injury in UK doctors.1 The report includes definitions of the terms ‘moral distress’ and ‘moral injury’ as well as a summary of how the concepts have developed over time. There is also an analysis of the BMA’s pan-profession survey of moral distress and moral injury of doctors in the UK, the first of its kind. The impact of COVID-19 and recommendations for tackling moral distress also feature. Many may be unfamiliar with the …Read more
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1Consciousness and explanationIn Lawrence Weiskrantz & Martin Davies (eds.), Frontiers of Consciousness: Chichele Lectures, Oxford University Press. 2008.
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1The Philosophy of MindIn A. C. Grayling (ed.), Philosophy 1: A Guide Through the Subject, Oxford University Press. 1998.
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6Ethics briefingJournal of Medical Ethics 47 (6): 441-442. 2021.During the first UK wave of the pandemic, there were two areas of immediate ethical concern for the medical profession. The first was the possibility that life-saving resources could be overwhelmed. Early reports from hospitals in the Italian city of Bergamo suggested that ventilatory support might need rationing and emergency ‘battlefield’ triage was a real possibility.1 In the UK, several professional bodies, including the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians rapidly…Read more
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11Ethics briefing – February 2021Journal of Medical Ethics 47 (4): 287-288. 2021.In December, the National Data Guardian 1 for health and care in England, Dame Fiona Caldicott, published the outcomes of a public consultation about the Caldicott Principles and the role of Caldicott Guardians.1 The Caldicott Principles are good practice guidelines which have been used by health and social care organisations in the UK since 1997 to ensure that people’s data are kept safe and used in an ethical way.2 The role of the Caldicott Guardian is well-established in the UK. Caldicott Gua…Read more
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7A Peircean Pathway from Surprising Facts to New BeliefsTransactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 56 (3): 400-426. 2020.ARRAY.
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8Ethics briefingJournal of Medical Ethics 47 (2): 129-130. 2021.On 8 October 2020, the British Medical Association published the results of its survey of BMA members on physician-assisted dying. With 28 986 respondents, this was one of the largest surveys of medical opinion on this topic ever carried out. This represents 19.35% of those who received an invitation to participate and the respondents were broadly representative of the BMA’s overall membership. The BMA was clear throughout this process that the results of the survey would not determine its polic…Read more
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24How unexpected observations lead to new beliefs: A Peircean pathwayConsciousness and Cognition 87 103037. 2021.People acquire new beliefs in various ways. One of the most important of these is that new beliefs are acquired as a response to experiencing events that one did not expect. This involves a form of inference distinct from both deductive and inductive inference: abductive inference. The concept of abduction is due to the American pragmatist philosopher C. S. Peirce. Davies and Coltheart elucidated what Peirce meant by abduction, and identified two problems in his otherwise promising account requi…Read more
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4Ethics BriefingJournal of Medical Ethics 46 (12): 845-846. 2020.At the time of writing the COVID-19 pandemic was entering its ninth month, with nearly 800 000 recorded fatalities and 22 million infections in 188 countries and territories.1 In previous ethics briefings2 we raised concerns about the possibility that demand for life-sustaining treatment would overwhelm supply, with a consequent requirement for health professionals to make challenging triage decisions. Fortunately, to date, these have largely not been realised, although there is a possibility th…Read more
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9Introduction to Special Issue: The Two-Dimensional Framework and Its Applications: Metaphysics, Language, MindPhilosophical Studies 118 (1): 1-10. 2004.
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5Thinking about the Enlightenment (edited book)Thinking about the Enlightenmentlooks beyond the current parameters of studying the Enlightenment, to the issues that can be understood by reflecting on the period in a broader context. Each of the thirteen original chapters, by an international and interdisciplinary team of contributors, illustrates the problematic legacy of the Enlightenment and the continued ramifications of its thinking since the eighteenth century. Together, they consider whether modernity can see its roots in the intellect…Read more
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48Alie Bijker: Riedel Horatiana. A Catalogue of the Horace Collection in Groningen University Library. Pp. xx + 299, 26 pls. Nieuwkoop: De Graaf, 1996. ISBN: 90-6004-435-5 (review)The Classical Review 50 (1): 293-294. 2000.
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39‘Two examiners marked six scripts.’ Interpretations of numerically quantified sentencesLinguistics and Philosophy 12 (3). 1989.
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6Review: Hugues Leblanc, D. Gabbay, F. Guenthner, Alternatives to Standard first-order Semantics (review)Journal of Symbolic Logic 54 (4): 1483-1484. 1989.
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18Ethics briefingsJournal of Medical Ethics 39 (3): 191-192. 2013.This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003.1 i The Act makes it an offence for any person to excise, infibulate or otherwise mutilate the whole or any part of a female's labia majora, labia minora or clitoris, or to aid, abet, counsel or procure the mutilation by another person. The exception is where a surgical or obstetric procedure is clinically indicated. There has long been UK legalisation against female genital mutilation but the 2003 Act extended the cr…Read more
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29Ethics briefingsJournal of Medical Ethics 39 (1): 62-64. 2013.In August 2012, the drug manufacturer, Fresenius Kabi, barred the sale of the anaesthetic, propofol, for use in lethal injections. The company announced that it would not accept orders for the drug from US departments of correction, and put in place similar requirements on all its wholesalers and distributors.1Propofol is one of the world's most widely used anaesthetics. Earlier in 2012, US states began to use propofol in executions following shortages of other drugs which had previously been us…Read more
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19Ethics briefingsJournal of Medical Ethics 37 (5): 321-323. 2011.In England, Wales and Scotland, the vast majority of abortions take place in the first trimester of pregnancy. In 2009, for example, 91% of abortions were carried out at under 13 weeks gestation for women resident in England and Wales. 1 Early abortion opens up the opportunity for a woman to have a medical abortion rather than a surgical abortion. Medical abortion is considered to be less invasive and less expensive than surgical abortion, and is increasingly becoming the preferred method. 1 The…Read more
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32Determinism and evilAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 58 (2). 1980.This Article does not have an abstract
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10Boethius and Others on Divine ForeknowledgePacific Philosophical Quarterly 64 (4): 313-329. 2017.
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