•  109
    This new Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of contemporary extensions and alternatives to the just war tradition in the field of the ethics of war. The modern history of just war has typically assumed the primacy of four particular elements: jus ad bellum, jus in bello, the state actor, and the solider. This book will put these four elements under close scrutiny, and will explore how they fare given the following challenges: • What role do the traditional elements of jus ad bellum and jus…Read more
  •  41
    Issues: The distant future?
    Nanoethics: The Ethical and Social Implications of Nanotechnology. forthcoming.
    Nanotechnology will eventually impact every area of our world. Nanoethics seeks to examine the potential risks and rewards of applications of nanotechnology. This up-to-date anthology gives the reader an introduction to and basic foundation in nanotechnology and nanoethics, and then delves into near-, mid-, and far-term issues. Comprehensive and authoritative, it:Goes beyond the usual environmental, health, and safety (EHS) concerns to explore such topics as privacy, nanomedicine, human enhancem…Read more
  •  75
    Neuroscience and Metaphysics
    with Chris Buford
    American Journal of Bioethics 7 (1): 58-60. 2007.
    In "Imaging or Imagining? A Neuroethics Challenge Informed by Genetics," Judy Illes and Eric Racine argue that "traditional bioethics analysis" (TBA) is insufficient to deal with moral and metaphysical challenges endemic to recent developments in neuroscience, apparently because they believe that these developments differ in kind, not merely degree, from previous developments. This article suggests that recent neuroscientific developments do not have any metaphysical implications that pose the s…Read more
  •  70
    Binary Bullets: The Ethics of Cyberwarfare (edited book)
    with Adam Henschke and Bradley Jay Strawser
    Oxford University Press. 2016.
    Philosophical and ethical discussions of warfare are often tied to emerging technologies and techniques. Today we are presented with what many believe is a radical shift in the nature of war-the realization of conflict in the cyber-realm, the so-called.
  •  110
    The general consensus among philosophers is that the use of torture is never justified. In _Terrorism, Ticking Time-Bombs, and Torture_, Fritz Allhoff demonstrates the weakness of the case against torture; while allowing that torture constitutes a moral wrong, he nevertheless argues that, in exceptional cases, it represents the lesser of two evils. Allhoff does not take this position lightly. He begins by examining the way terrorism challenges traditional norms, discussing the morality of variou…Read more
  •  106
    Telomers and the Ethics of Human Cloning
    Journal of Philosophical Research 32 (9999): 231-237. 2007.
    In search of a potential problem with cloning, I investigate the phenomenon of telomere shortening which is caused by cell replication; clones created from somatic cells will have shortened telomeres and therefore reach a state of senescence more rapidly. While genetic intervention might fix this problem at some point in the future, I ask whether, absent technological advances, this biological phenomenon undermines the moral permissibility of cloning.
  •  165
    Physicians at War (review)
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 24 (1): 101-114. 2010.
    This paper offers a brief examination of ethical health issues arising from military operations and outlines which, if any, of these ethical health issues apply to current Australian Defence Force (ADF) military operations. The transparency of military operations provided through real time global media reporting and the Internet, has raised public awareness of incidents that can be viewed broadly as ethical issues or dilemmas. While many of these issues are not new, it is the changing context of…Read more
  •  115
    Physician Involvement in Hostile Interrogations
    Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 15 (4): 392-402. 2006.
    In this paper, I have two main goals. First, I will argue that traditional medical values mandate, as opposed to forbid, at least minimal physician participation in hostile interrogations. Second, I will argue that traditional medical duties or responsibilities do not apply to medically-trained interrogators. In support of this conclusion, I will argue that medically-trained interrogators could simply choose not to enter into a patient-physician relationship. Recognizing that this argument might…Read more
  •  101
    Free-riding and research ethics
    American Journal of Bioethics 5 (1). 2005.
    In "Rethinking Research Ethics," Rosamond Rhodes argues that everyone has a responsibility to participate in research ethics programs (Rhodes 2005). After discussing the moral underpinnings upon which such a claim might rest, this article brings up two concerns in response to Rhodes' claim. The first worry is pragmatic: Rhodes argues that the focus in research ethics should be on the hypothetical consent of idealized moral agents, an approach that is constrained by practical considerations. The …Read more
  •  112
    Wine and Philosophy: A Symposium on Thinking and Drinking (edited book)
    Wiley-Blackwell. 2007.
    In _Wine & Philosophy,_ philosophers, wine critics, and winemakers share their passion for wine through well-crafted essays that explore wine’s deeper meaning, nature, and significance Joins _Food & Philosophy_ and _Beer & Philosophy_ in in the "Epicurean Trilogy Essays are organized thematically and written by philosophers, wine writers, and winemakers Chapters include, “The Art & Culture of Wine”; “Tasting & Talking about Wine”; “Wine & Its Critics”; “The Beauty of Wine”; “The Metaphysics of W…Read more
  •  47
    A Guide to Philosophies of the Sciences (edited book)
    Wiley-Blackwell. 2009.
    A collection of essays discussing a wide range of sciences and the central philosophical issues associated with them, presenting the sciences collectively to encourage a greater understanding of their associative theoretical foundations, as well as their relationships to each other. Offers a new and unique approach to studying and comparing the philosophies of a variety of scientific disciplines *Explores a wide variety of individual sciences, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, …Read more
  •  75
    This new Handbook offers a comprehensive overview of contemporary extensions and alternatives to the just war tradition in the field of the ethics of war.
  •  103
    Response to Open Peer Commentaries on “The Coming Era of Nanomedicine”
    American Journal of Bioethics 9 (10): 1-2. 2009.
    This article draws out some key themes and offers responses to commentaries on "The Coming Era of Nanomedicine" (Allhoff 2009).
  •  4
    Not Just Wars (edited book)
    Routledge. forthcoming.
    This volume seeks to divide challenges to the just war tradition into thematic categories, to better outline the changing landscape of the Just War tradition. The motivating idea and common thread that will carry through the collection is to engage in a process of reflective equilibrium where the various authors will not only present some element in the Just War tradition to see how it applies to modern warfare, but how the facts about modern warfare can and ought to bear upon/change different e…Read more
  •  108
  •  128
    Discriminating against "organ takers"
    American Journal of Bioethics 4 (4). 2004.
    This article responds to David Steinberg's proposal in favor of an organ donation system that gives allocation preference to people who agree to donate after they die. This article challenges the notion that organ taking is morally impermissible and questions Steinberg’s program on the grounds that it would unfairly discriminate against these people by deprioritizing their claims to the kidney supply. Relatedly, the article suggests that Steinberg’s proposal effectively coerces people to opt in,…Read more
  •  151
    TorTure WArrANTS, SeLF-DeFeNSe, AND NeceSSiTy
    Public Affairs Quarterly 25 (3): 217-240. 2011.
    Ticking time-bomb cases famously—or infamously—invite us to imagine a scenario wherein the torture of one guilty terrorist will lead to the acquisition of information that can be used to save the lives of many innocents. Despite the contemporary focus on such cases, they have a long tradition, dating to the early 1800s. And, throughout their history, they have appeared in various guises, from the literary to the public to the philosophical. The principal moral question suggested by these cases i…Read more
  •  639
    Terrorism and torture
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 17 (1): 121-134. 2003.
    After the events of 9/11, the concept of torture has emerged as one that is both pertinent and provoking. National polls have shown that some Americans support torture in some situations, though the majority still stand opposed. Torture has not received a tremendous amount of discussion in the philosophical literature, though I suspect that the leftward slant of academia would, for the most part, ensure limited support for torture. In this paper, I would like to first discuss why torture is an i…Read more
  •  55
    Physicians at War: Lessons for Archaeologists?
    In Peter G. Stone (ed.), Cultural Heritage, Ethics and the Military, Boydell Press. pp. 4--43. 2011.
    This paper offers a brief examination of ethical health issues arising from military operations and outlines which, if any, of these ethical health issues apply to current Australian Defence Force (ADF) military operations. The transparency of military operations provided through real time global media reporting and the Internet, has raised public awareness of incidents that can be viewed broadly as ethical issues or dilemmas. While many of these issues are not new, it is the changing context of…Read more
  •  194
    The War on Terror and the Ethics of Exceptionalism
    Journal of Military Ethics 8 (4): 265-288. 2009.
    The war on terror is commonly characterized as a fundamentally different kind of war from more traditional armed conflict. Furthermore, it has been argued that, in this new kind of war, different rules, both moral and legal, must apply. In the first part of this paper, three practices endemic to the war on terror -- torture, assassination, and enemy combatancy status -- are identified as exceptions to traditional norms. The second part of the paper uses these examples to motivate a generalized a…Read more
  •  384
    Germ-line genetic enhancement and Rawlsian primary goods
    Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 15 (1): 39-56. 2005.
    : Genetic interventions raise a host of moral issues and, of its various species, germ-line genetic enhancement is the most morally contentious. This paper surveys various arguments against germ-line enhancement and attempts to demonstrate their inadequacies. A positive argument is advanced in favor of certain forms of germ-line enhancements, which holds that they are morally permissible if and only if they augment Rawlsian primary goods, either directly or by facilitating their acquisition.
  •  247
    What Is Modesty?
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 23 (2): 165-187. 2009.
    This paper examines the virtue of modesty and provides an account of what it means to be modest. A good account should not only delimit the proper application of the concept, but should also capture why it is that we think that modesty is a virtue. Recent work has yielded several interesting, but flawed, accounts of modesty. Julia Driver has argued that it consists in underestimating one’s self-worth, while Owen Flanagan has argued that modesty must entail an accurate—as opposed to underestimate…Read more
  •  206
    This article provides of review of the book A World without Values: Essays on John Mackie's Moral Error Theory, edited by Richard Joyce and Simon Kirchin.
  •  72
    Ticking Time-Bombs and Torture1
    In Andrew I. Cohen & Christopher Heath Wellman (eds.), Contemporary Debates in Applied Ethics, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 22--247. 2014.
    The general consensus among philosophers is that the use of torture is never justified. In Terrorism, Ticking Time-Bombs, and Torture, Fritz Allhoff demonstrates the weakness of the case against torture; while allowing that torture constitutes a moral wrong, he nevertheless argues that, in exceptional cases, it represents the lesser of two evils. Allhoff does not take this position lightly. He begins by examining the way terrorism challenges traditional norms, discussing the morality of various …Read more
  •  98
    This article examines a moral problem for the blastocyst transfer method of harvesting stem cells from embryos. Although BTM does not result in the destruction of an embryo, this article suggests that BTM nevertheless faces difficulty because it poses a threat to the autonomy of the embryo.
  •  78
    On Economic Justifications of Bioterrorism Defense Spending
    American Journal of Bioethics 5 (4): 52-54. 2005.
    *The opinions contained in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the American Medical Association.
  •  167
    Evolutionary Ethics from Darwin to Moore
    History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 25 (1). 2003.
    Evolutionary ethics has a long history, dating all the way back to Charles Darwin.1 Almost immediately after the publication of the Origin, an immense interest arose in the moral implications of Darwinism and whether the truth of Darwinism would undermine traditional ethics. Though the biological thesis was certainly exciting, nobody suspected that the impact of the Origin would be confined to the scientific arena. As one historian wrote, 'whether or not ancient populations of armadillos were tr…Read more
  •  47
    Doctors and torture
    Hastings Center Report 42 (1): 8. 2012.
    This letter to the editor discusses Chiara Lepora and Joseph Millum's argument in "The Tortured Patient: A Medical Dilemma" and supports their conclusion (that physicians may justifiably be complicit in torture) while questioning the way in which they arrive at that conclusion.
  •  288
    What Are Applied Ethics?
    Science and Engineering Ethics 17 (1): 1-19. 2011.
    This paper explores the relationships that various applied ethics bear to each other, both in particular disciplines and more generally. The introductory section lays out the challenge of coming up with such an account and, drawing a parallel with the philosophy of science, offers that applied ethics may either be unified or disunified. The second section develops one simple account through which applied ethics are unified, vis-à-vis ethical theory. However, this is not taken to be a satisfying …Read more
  •  118
    The Coming Era of Nanomedicine
    American Journal of Bioethics 9 (10): 3-11. 2009.
    This essay presents some general background on nanomedicine, particularly focusing on some of the investment that is being made in this emerging field. The bulk of the essay, however, consists of explorations of two areas in which the impacts of nanomedicine are likely to be most significant: diagnostics and medical records and treatment, including surgery and drug delivery. Each discussion includes a survey some of the ethical and social issues that are likely to arise in these applications.