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21Two Concepts of Conscience and their Implications for Conscience-Based Refusal in HealthcareCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 26 (1): 97-108. 2017.
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6Informed Consent and Clinician Accountability: The Ethics of Report Cards on Surgeon Performance (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2007.This timely book analyses and evaluates ethical and social implications of recent developments in reporting surgeon performance. It contains chapters by leading international specialists in philosophy, bioethics, epidemiology, medical administration, surgery, and law, demonstrating the diversity and complexity of debates about this topic, raising considerations of patient autonomy, accountability, justice, and the quality and safety of medical services. Performance information on individual card…Read more
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27A Prospect Theory Approach to Understanding ConservatismPhilosophia 45 (2): 551-568. 2017.There is widespread agreement about a combination of attributes that someone needs to possess if they are to be counted as a conservative. They need to lack definite political ideals, goals or ends, to prefer the political status quo to its alternatives, and to be risk averse. Why should these three highly distinct attributes, which are widely believed to be characteristic of adherents to a significant political position, cluster together? Here I draw on prospect theory to develop an explanation…Read more
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49Bioconservatism, Bioliberalism, and the Wisdom of Reflecting on RepugnanceMonash Bioethics Review 28 (1): 1-21. 2009.We consider the current debate between bioconservatives and their chief opponents — whom we dub bioliberals — about the moral acceptability of human enhancement and the policy implications of moral debates about enhancement. We argue that this debate has reached an impasse, largely because bioconservatives hold that we should honour intuitions about the special value of being human, even if we cannot identify reasons to ground those intuitions. We argue that although intuitions are often a relia…Read more
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114Intuitions as Evidence, Philosophical Expertise and the Developmental ChallengePhilosophical Papers 42 (2): 175-207. 2013.Appeals to intuitions as evidence in philosophy are challenged by experimental philosophers and other critics. A common response to experimental philosophical criticisms is to hold that only professional philosophers? intuitions count as evidence in philosophy. This ?expert intuitions defence? is inadequate for two reasons. First, recent studies indicate significant variability in professional philosophers? intuitions. Second, the academic literature on professional intuitions gives us reasons t…Read more
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53Ontological disunity and a realism worth havingBehavioral and Brain Sciences 27 (5): 628-629. 2004.Ross & Spurrett (R&S) appear convinced that the world must have a unified ontological structure. This conviction is difficult to reconcile with a commitment to mainstream realism, which involves allowing that the world may be ontologically disunified. R&S should follow Kitcher by weakening their conception of unification so as to allow for the possibility of ontological disunity.
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37Against the unification of the behavioral sciencesBehavioral and Brain Sciences 30 (1): 21-22. 2007.The contemporary behavioral sciences are disunified and could not easily become unified, as they operate with incompatible explanatory models. According to Gintis, tolerance of this situation is “scandalous” (sect. 12). I defend the ordinary behavioral scientist's lack of commitment to a unifying explanatory model and identify several reasons why the behavioral sciences should remain disunified for the foreseeable future. (Published Online April 27 2007).
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78Transcendental realisms in the philosophy of science: on Bhaskar and CartwrightSynthese 173 (3): 299-315. 2010.I consider two transcendental arguments for realism in the philosophy of science, which are due to Roy Bhaskar (A realist theory of science, 1975) and Nancy Cartwright (The dappled world, 1999). Bhaskar and Cartwright are both influential figures, however there is little discussion of their use of transcendental arguments in the literature. Here I seek to correct this oversight. I begin by describing the role of the transcendental arguments in question, in the context of the broader philosophica…Read more
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5Accountability, Informed Consent and Clinician Report CardsIn Steve Clarke (ed.), Informed Consent and Clinician Accountability: The Ethics of Report Cards on Surgeon Performance, Cambridge University Press. pp. 1-21. 2007.
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31Homeopathy – An Undiluted ProposalIn David Edmonds (ed.), Philosophers Take on the World, Oxford University Press Uk. pp. 39-41. 2016.
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31Buchanan and the Conservative Argument against Human Enhancement from Biological and Social HarmonyIn Steve Clarke, Julian Savulescu, Tony Coady, Alberto Giubilini & Sagar Sanyal (eds.), The Ethics of Human Enhancement: Understanding the Debate, Oxford University Press Uk. pp. 211-224. 2016.
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2Coercion, consequence and salvationIn Yujin Nagasawa (ed.), Scientific Approaches to the Philosophy of Religion, Palgrave-macmillan. pp. 205. 2012.
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75When to Believe in MiraclesAmerican Philosophical Quarterly 34 (1). 1997.Brierley et al argue that in cases where it is medically futile to continue providing life-sustaining therapies to children in intensive care, medical professionals should be allowed to withdraw such therapies, even when the parents of these children believe that there is a chance of a miracle cure taking place. In reasoning this way, Brierley et al appear to implicitly assume that miracle cures will never take place, but they do not justify this assumption and it would be very difficult for the…Read more
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30Review of The Disunity of Science: Boundaries Contexts, and Power by Peter Galison and David J. Stump (review)Philosophy of Science 66 (3): 506-507. 1999.
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57Informed Consent in Medicine in Comparison with Consent in Other Areas of Human ActivitySouthern Journal of Philosophy 39 (2): 169-187. 2001.
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130Conscientious Objection to VaccinationBioethics 31 (3): 155-161. 2016.Vaccine refusal occurs for a variety of reasons. In this article we examine vaccine refusals that are made on conscientious grounds; that is, for religious, moral, or philosophical reasons. We focus on two questions: first, whether people should be entitled to conscientiously object to vaccination against contagious diseases ; second, if so, to what constraints or requirements should conscientious objection to vaccination be subject. To address these questions, we consider an analogy between CO …Read more
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1159Bioconservatism, Bioliberalism, and RepugnanceMonash Bioethics Review 28 (1). 2009.We consider the current debate between bioconservatives and their opponents—whom we dub bioliberals—about the moral acceptability of human enhancement and the policy implications of moral debates about enhancement. We argue that this debate has reached an impasse, largely because bioconservatives hold that we should honour intuitions about the special value of being human, even if we cannot identify reasons to ground those intuitions. We argue that although intuitions are often a reliable guide …Read more
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148The Neuroscience of Decision Making and Our Standards for Assessing Competence to ConsentNeuroethics 6 (1): 189-196. 2011.Rapid advances in neuroscience may enable us to identify the neural correlates of ordinary decision making. Such knowledge opens up the possibility of acquiring highly accurate information about people’s competence to consent to medical procedures and to participate in medical research. Currently we are unable to determine competence to consent with accuracy and we make a number of unrealistic practical assumptions to deal with our ignorance. Here I argue that if we are able to detect competence…Read more
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53Luck and miraclesReligious Studies 39 (4): 471-474. 2003.In another paper published here, I criticized Stephen Mumford 's causation-based analysis of miracles on the grounds of its failure to produce results that are consistent with ordinary intuitions. In a response to me, intended as a defence of Mumford 's position, Morgan Luck finds fault with my rival approach to miracles on three grounds. In this response to Luck I argue that all three of his criticisms miss their mark. My response to Luck's final line of criticism helps shed light on the differ…Read more
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106Future technologies, dystopic futures and the precautionary principleEthics and Information Technology 7 (3): 121-126. 2005.It is sometimes suggested that new research in such areas as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and genetic engineering should be halted or otherwise restricted because of concerns about possible catastrophic scenarios. Proponents of such restrictions typically invoke the precautionary principle, understood as a tool of policy formulation, as part of their case. Here I examine the application of the precautionary principle to possible catastrophic scenarios. I argue, along with Sunstein (Ri…Read more
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27Disclosing Clinical Trial Results: Publicity, Significance and IndependenceAmerican Journal of Bioethics 9 (8): 3-5. 2009.Participants in some clinical trials are at risk of being harmed and sometimes are seriously harmed as a result of not being provided with available, relevant risk information. We argue that this situation is unacceptable and that there is a moral duty to disclose all adverse clinical trial results to participants in clinical trials. This duty is grounded in the human right not to be placed at risk of harm without informed consent. We consider objections to disclosure grounded in considerations …Read more
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279Recent Themes in the Philosophy of Science: Scientific Realism and Commonsense (edited book)Springer. 2010.Australia and New Zealand boast an active community of scholars working in the field of history, philosophy and social studies of science. Australasian Studies in History and Philosophy of Science aims to provide a distinctive publication outlet for their work. Each volume comprises a group of thematically-connected essays edited by scholars based in Australia or New Zealand with special expertise in that particular area. In each volume, a majority ofthe contributors are from Australia or New Ze…Read more
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56Imperialism, Progress, Developmental Teleology, and Interdisciplinary UnificationInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 27 (3): 341-351. 2013.In a previous article in this journal, we examined John Dupré's claim that ‘scientific imperialism’ can lead to ‘misguided’ science being considered acceptable. Here, we address criticisms raised by Ian J. Kidd and Uskali Mäki against that article. While both commentators take us to be offering our own account of scientific imperialism that goes beyond that developed by Dupré, and go on to criticise what they take to be our account, our actual ambitions were modest. We intended to ‘explicate the…Read more
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404Conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorizingPhilosophy of the Social Sciences 32 (2): 131-150. 2002.The dismissive attitude of intellectuals toward conspiracy theorists is considered and given some justification. It is argued that intellectuals are entitled to an attitude of prima facie skepticism toward the theories propounded by conspiracy theorists, because conspiracy theorists have an irrational tendency to continue to believe in conspiracy theories, even when these take on the appearance of forming the core of degenerating research program. It is further argued that the pervasive effect o…Read more
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12Religion, Intolerance, and Conflict: A Scientific and Conceptual Investigation (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2013.The relationship between religion, intolerance and conflict has been the subject of intense discussion, particularly in the wake of the events of 9-11 and the ongoing threat of terrorism. This book contains original papers written by some of the world's leading scholars in anthropology, psychology, philosophy and theology exploring the scientific and conceptual dimensions of religion and human conflict. The volume will be of great interest to academics across avariety of disciplines, including r…Read more
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76Scientific Imperialism and the Proper Relations between the SciencesInternational Studies in the Philosophy of Science 23 (2): 195-207. 2009.John Dupr argues that 'scientific imperialism' can result in 'misguided' science being considered acceptable. 'Misguided' is an explicitly normative term and the use of the pejorative 'imperialistic' is implicitly normative. However, Dupr has not justified the normative dimension of his critique. We identify two ways in which it might be justified. It might be justified if colonisation prevents a discipline from progressing in ways that it might otherwise progress. It might also be justified if …Read more
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University of OxfordWellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, St Cross College
Faculty of PhilosophyResearcher
Oxford, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Religion |
General Philosophy of Science |
Biomedical Ethics |
Applied Ethics |
Technology Ethics |
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics |
Philosophy of Social Science |
Medical Ethics |
Biomedical Ethics |