Christopher A. Riddle

Utica College
  •  13
    Is medical aid in dying discriminatory?
    Journal of Medical Ethics 50 (2): 122-122. 2024.
    In _Discrimination Against the Dying_, Philip Reed argues, among other things, that ‘right to die laws (euthanasia and assisted suicide) also exhibit terminalism when they restrict eligibility to the terminally ill’. 1 Additionally, he suggests ‘the availability of the option of assisted death only for the terminally ill negatively influences the terminally ill who wish to live by causing them to doubt their choice’. 1 I argue that on scrutiny, neither of these two points hold. First, we routine…Read more
  •  5
    Assent and vulnerability in patients who lack capacity
    Journal of Medical Ethics 49 (7): 485-486. 2023.
    Smajdor’s Reification and Assent in Research Involving Those Who lack Capacity claims, among other things, that ‘adults who cannot give informed consent may nevertheless have the ability to assent and dissent, and that these capacities are morally important in the context of research’.1 More pointedly, she suggests we can rely upon Gillick competence, or that ‘it is worth thinking about why the same trajectory [as children] has not been evident in the context of [adults with impairments of capac…Read more
  •  8
    Medical Aid in Dying: The Case of Disability
    In Michael Cholbi & Jukka Varelius (eds.), New Directions in the Ethics of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, Springer Verlag. pp. 225-241. 2023.
    I argue that despite criticism from some disability rights organizations, aid in dying is morally permissible. First, I suggest that disability-related concerns can be classified as emerging from one of two kinds of harm: person affecting, and personhood affecting. Second, I examine whether person affecting harm has occurred within those jurisdictions that have legalized aid in dying. I conclude that despite suggestions to the contrary, there is no evidence to demonstrate that people with disabi…Read more
  •  1
    Human Rights, Disability, and Capabilities
    Palgrave Macmillan. 2016.
    This book presents the argument that health has special moral importance because of the disadvantage one suffers when subjected to impairment or disabling barriers. Christopher A. Riddle asserts that ill health and the presence of disabling barriers are human rights issues and that we require a foundational conception of justice in order to promote the rights of people with disabilities. The claim that disability is a human rights issue is defended on the grounds that people with disabilities ex…Read more
  •  9
    Vulnerability, Disability, and Public Health Crises
    Public Health Ethics 14 (2): 161-167. 2021.
    This article suggests that those individuals typically acknowledged as vulnerable during public health crises, such as pandemics, are often-times doubly so. I suggest that individuals can be vulnerable in a person-affecting way as well as in a personhood-affecting way. I suggest that the former notion of vulnerability coincides with many existing accounts of vulnerability and that subsequently, many of the more standard arguments for moral and justice-based obligations to minimize such vulnerabi…Read more
  •  21
    Obsolescence, Genetic Treatment, and Disability
    with Jeremy Butler
    American Journal of Bioethics 19 (7): 51-53. 2019.
    Volume 19, Issue 7, July 2019, Page 51-53.
  •  33
    Assisted Dying, Disability Rights, and Medical Error
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 32 (2): 187-196. 2018.
    In this brief paper, a case is made for the moral permissibility of assisted dying. The paper proceeds by highlighting a common critique from within disability rights scholarship and advocacy that emphasizes the vulnerability of people with disabilities and the risks associated with permitting assisted dying. The paper suggests that because medicine necessarily involves risk, primarily through the high likelihood of medical error, that the risk and harm being utilized as a justification to prohi…Read more
  •  64
    Assisted Dying & Disability
    Bioethics 31 (6): 484-489. 2017.
    This article explores at least two dominant critiques of assisted dying from a disability rights perspective. In spite of these critiques, I conclude that assisted dying ought to be permissible. I arrive at the conclusion that if we respect and value people with disabilities, we ought to permit assisted dying. I do so in the following manner. First, I examine recent changes in legislation that have occurred since the Royal Society of Canada Expert Panel on End-of-Life Decision-Making report, pub…Read more
  •  2
    This collection pays tribute to Jerome E. Bickenbach’s work that spans from philosophical and sociological issues to international legislation designed to support the rights of people with disabilities. Eight essays critically engage with Bickenbach’s work to further advance the discussions he has initiated throughout his career.
  •  16
    Personal Property, Health Insurance, and Morality
    with Douglas J. Riddle
    American Journal of Bioethics 18 (2): 62-63. 2018.
  •  97
    Philosophy & Gun Control: Introduction
    Essays in Philosophy 16 (2): 149-153. 2015.
  •  43
    Indexing, Capabilities, and Disability
    Journal of Social Philosophy 41 (4): 527-537. 2010.
  •  10
    Disability and Justice: The Capabilities Approach in Practice
    with Jerome E. Bickenbach
    Lexington Books. 2014.
    Disability & Justice: The Capabilities Approach in Practice is an interdisciplinary examination of the practical application of the capabilities approach viewed through the lens of the experience of disability. Careful and critical examination of vital foundational concepts is undertaken prior to contextualizing the experience of disability and how we might begin to promote an inclusive society through an application of the capabilities approach
  •  2
    Review of Foucault and the Government of Disability, ed. Shelley Tremain (review)
    Essays in Philosophy 10 (1): 135-138. 2009.
  •  46
    Responsibility and Foundational Material Conditions
    American Journal of Bioethics 11 (7). 2011.
    The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 11, Issue 7, Page 53-55, July 2011
  •  65
    Defining disability: metaphysical not political
    Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 16 (3): 377-384. 2013.
    Recent discussions surrounding the conceptualising of disability has resulted in a stalemate between British sociologists and philosophers. The stagnation of theorizing that has occurred threatens not only academic pursuits and the advancement of theoretical interpretations within the Disability Studies community, but also how we educate and advocate politically, legally, and socially. More pointedly, many activists and theorists in the UK appear to believe the British social model is the only e…Read more
  •  18
    Values and virtues: Aristotelianism in contemporary ethics
    International Journal of Philosophical Studies 17 (2). 2009.
    No abstract
  •  112
    On Risk & Responsibility: Gun Control and the Ethics of Hunting
    Essays in Philosophy 16 (2): 217-231. 2015.
    This article explores gun control and the ethics of hunting and suggests that hunting ought not to be permitted, and not because of its impact on those animals that are hunted, but because of the risk other humans are subjected to as a result of some being permitted to own guns for mere preference satisfaction. This article examines the nature of freedom, its value, and how responsibility for the exercising of that freedom ought to be regarded when it involves subjecting others to a risk of grav…Read more
  •  20
    Disability, Health, and Minimal Risk Thresholds
    American Journal of Bioethics 14 (9): 25-26. 2014.
    No abstract
  •  107
    Well-Being and the Capability of Health
    Topoi 32 (2): 153-160. 2013.
    In this paper, I argue that health plays a special role in the promotion of well-being within the capabilities approach framework. I do this by first presenting a scenario involving two individuals, both of whom lack access to only one capability. The first cannot secure the capability of bodily health due to an unhealthy lifestyle, whilst the second lacks access to bodily integrity due to a life of celibacy. Second, I explore these scenarios by assessing the nature of disadvantage suffered in b…Read more