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33Positive Sexism*: L. W. SUMINERSocial Philosophy and Policy 5 (1): 204-222. 1987.No one who cares about equal opportunity can derive much comfort from the present occupational distribution of working women. In the various industrial societies of the West, women comprise between one quarter and one-half of the national labor force. However, they tend to clustered in employment sectors – especially clerical, sales, and service J occupations – which rank relatively low in remuneration, status, autonomy, and other perquisites. Meanwhile, the more prestigious and rewarding manage…Read more
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3Sumner on Abortion: Moral Theory and Moral Standing: A Reply to Woods and SolesDialogue 24 (4): 691-700. 1985.I am grateful to John Woods and David Soles for the careful attention they have given to some of the central arguments of Abortion and Moral Theory, though I wish that they had revealed fewer respects in which those arguments were seriously underdeveloped. In what follows I will try to supply some of the needed further development. I address the main points at issue in what I conceive to be their order of ascending importance.
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55The Moral Status of Animals.By Stephen R.L. Clark. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977. 221 pages (review)Dialogue 17 (3): 570-575. 1978.
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4Criminalizing expression : hate speech and obscenityIn John Deigh & David Dolinko (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Philosophy of the Criminal Law, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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29Reply to WilliamsCriminal Law and Philosophy 9 (2): 331-335. 2015.In her review of my book Assisted Death: A Study in Ethics and Law, Glenys Williams raises a number of substantive objections to its argument. In this note I reply to those objections
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141Assisted death: a study in ethics and lawOxford University Press. 2011.In this timely book L.W. Sumner addresses these issues within the wider context of palliative care for patients in the dying process.
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Politician, Judges, and the CharterCanadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence 21 (1): 227-238. 2008.The complaint is a familiar one: unelected, politically unaccountable judges are using their powers of judicial review to subvert the democratic process by shaping public policy in accordance with their own personal moral/political views. It is tempting to dismiss this complaint as the grumbling of those, usually on the political right, who have been disaffected by court decisions with which they personally disagree. But this temptation must be resisted, since the critics of judicial review, suc…Read more
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22Justice ContractedDialogue 26 (3): 523. 1987.In the longrunning war between the friends of knowledge and their sceptical enemies the moral front has always been one of the busiest. Here the sceptic assails us in the guise of the cunning and resourceful amoralist who disavows all ethical constraints. Some philosophers, seeing no prospect of defeating the amoralist by rational methods, have fallen back on a policy of containment by means of social and political sanctions. But others of a more truculent frame of mind have continued to seek a …Read more
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553Welfare, happiness, and ethicsOxford University Press. 1996.Moral philosophers agree that welfare matters. But they disagree about what it is, or how much it matters. In this vital new work, Wayne Sumner presents an original theory of welfare, investigating its nature and discussing its importance. He considers and rejects all notable theories of welfare, both objective and subjective, including hedonism and theories founded on desire or preference. His own theory connects welfare closely with happiness or life satisfaction. Reacting against the value pl…Read more
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51. A Theory of Free Expression?In The Hateful and the Obscene: Studies in the Limits of Free Expression, University of Toronto Press. pp. 1-17. 2004.
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35Rawls and the Contract Theory of Civil DisobedienceCanadian Journal of Philosophy 7 (sup1): 1-48. 1977.(1977). Rawls and the Contract Theory of Civil Disobedience. Canadian Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 7, Supplementary Volume 3: New Essays on Contract Theory, pp. 1-48
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145. In Harm's Way?In The Hateful and the Obscene: Studies in the Limits of Free Expression, University of Toronto Press. pp. 126-164. 2004.
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2Classical utilitarianism and the population optimumIn Richard I. Sikora & Brian Barry (eds.), Obligations to future generations, White Horse Press. pp. 91--111. 1978.
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28Cooperation, fairness and utilityJournal of Value Inquiry 5 (2): 105-119. 1971.In the situations canvassed I have argued that (a) the dominant aim of the utilitarian will be the establishment of a fair procedure, (b) under radical uncertainty cooperation will constitute his best bet, and (c) when he knowsthat all others will cooperate it is still an open question whether he will slack, and if under some conditions he does so he does not then act unfairly. It is wise to bear in mind, however, that an enormous number of possible situations, mostly mixtures of the pure cases,…Read more
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82Sumner on Abortion: Moral Theory and Moral Standing: A Reply to Woods and SolesDialogue 24 (4): 691-. 1985.I am grateful to John Woods and David Soles for the careful attention they have given to some of the central arguments of Abortion and Moral Theory, though I wish that they had revealed fewer respects in which those arguments were seriously underdeveloped. In what follows I will try to supply some of the needed further development. I address the main points at issue in what I conceive to be their order of ascending importance.
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22Philosophical Perspectives on Bioethics (edited book)University of Toronto Press. 1996.How are we to understand the role of bioethics in the health care system, government, and academe? This collection of original essays raises these and other questions about the nature of bioethics as a discipline.
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19
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Philosophy of Law |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Philosophy of Law |
Social and Political Philosophy |