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403Analysis, language, and concepts: The second paradox of analysisPhilosophical Perspectives 4 535-543. 1990.
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152"For now have I my death": The "duty to die" versus the duty to help the ill stay aliveMidwest Studies in Philosophy 24 (1). 2000.
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94Does Philosophy Only State What Everyone Admits? A Discussion of the Method of Wittgenstein's Philosophical InvestigationsMidwest Studies in Philosophy 17 (1): 246-254. 1992.
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93Death, Dying, and DignityThe Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy 1 189-201. 1999.The word ‘dignity’ is a staple of contemporary American medical ethics, where it often follows the words ‘death with’. People unfamiliar with this usage might expect it to apply to one’s manner of dying—for example, a stately exit involving ceremonial farewells. Instead, conventional usage generally holds that “death with dignity” ends or prevents life without dignity, by which is meant life marked not by buffoonery, but by illness and disability. Popular examples of dignity-depleters include de…Read more
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84Response to “This Porridge Is Too Thin” by Gretchen M. Brown and “Demolishing a 'Straw Man'” by Elliott J. Rosen (review)Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 7 (3): 323-325. 1998.Each of these hospice officials makes several criticisms of my paper, Philosophy of Hospice I will treat these criticisms in turn
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65Death is a Punch in the Jaw: Life-Extension and its DiscontentsIn Bonnie Steinbock (ed.), The Oxford handbook of bioethics, Oxford University Press. 2007.This article deals both with greatly extended finite life and with immortality and uses the term ‘greatly extended life’ to cover both. Except where indicated, it proceeds from some assumptions adapted from Christine Overall. First, people would know the life expectancy in their society or would know that they were immortal. Second, everyone would have the opportunity to choose greatly extended life. Third, greatly extended life would not be mandatory; people would be able to opt out at any poin…Read more
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62"Always to do ladies, damosels, and gentlewomen succour": Women and the chivalric code in malory's morte darthurMidwest Studies in Philosophy 26 (1). 2002.I am indebted to many people, especially Dorsey Armstrong, Shannon French, and Kenneth Hodges, for helpful discussions of this material. An early version of this essay was read at the Thirty-Sixth International Congress on Medieval Studies.This essay is dedicated to the glorious memory of Nina Lindsey
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61Goldilocks and Mrs. Ilych: A Critical Look at the “Philosophy of Hospice”Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 6 (3): 314-. 1997.Anyone who thinks contemporary American society is hopelessly contentious and lacking in shared values has probably not been paying attention to the way the popular media portray the hospice movement. Over and over, we are told such things as that “Humane care costs less than high-tech care and is what patients want and need,” that hospices are “the most effective and least expensive route to a dignified death,” that hospice personnel are “heroic,” that their “compassion and dedication seem inex…Read more
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51A Man by Nothing Is So Well Betrayed as by His Manners? Politeness as a VirtueMidwest Studies in Philosophy 13 (1): 250-258. 1988.
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48An argument for a modified Russellian principle of acquaintancePhilosophical Perspectives 1 501-512. 1987.
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46What Is the Proper Role for Charity in Healthcare?Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 5 (3): 425. 1996.My little girl has leukemia; she has had it for over a year, and now she needs at least five pints of blood a day. Not the whole blood, just the platelets. Most of our relatives and friends have given at least a few times. But we need more. Now I have to go to strangers.So begins Roberta Silman's short story, “Giving Blood,” a story about illness and charity. When the narrator's husband solicited blood donations at his workplace, “he thought everyone would help…He must have asked a hundred peopl…Read more
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45Flourish Your Heart in This World: Emotion, Reason, and Action in Malory's Le Morte D'ArthurMidwest Studies in Philosophy 22 (1): 182-226. 1998.
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36“I Support the Right to Die. You Go First”: Bias and Physician-Assisted SuicideIn David Boonin, Katrina L. Sifferd, Tyler K. Fagan, Valerie Gray Hardcastle, Michael Huemer, Daniel Wodak, Derk Pereboom, Stephen J. Morse, Sarah Tyson, Mark Zelcer, Garrett VanPelt, Devin Casey, Philip E. Devine, David K. Chan, Maarten Boudry, Christopher Freiman, Hrishikesh Joshi, Shelley Wilcox, Jason Brennan, Eric Wiland, Ryan Muldoon, Mark Alfano, Philip Robichaud, Kevin Timpe, David Livingstone Smith, Francis J. Beckwith, Dan Hooley, Russell Blackford, John Corvino, Corey McCall, Dan Demetriou, Ajume Wingo, Michael Shermer, Ole Martin Moen, Aksel Braanen Sterri, Teresa Blankmeyer Burke, Jeppe von Platz, John Thrasher, Mary Hawkesworth, William MacAskill, Daniel Halliday, Janine O’Flynn, Yoaav Isaacs, Jason Iuliano, Claire Pickard, Arvin M. Gouw, Tina Rulli, Justin Caouette, Allen Habib, Brian D. Earp, Andrew Vierra, Subrena E. Smith, Danielle M. Wenner, Lisa Diependaele, Sigrid Sterckx, G. Owen Schaefer, Markus K. Labude, Harisan Unais Nasir, Udo Schuklenk, Benjamin Zolf & Woolwine (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Public Policy, Springer Verlag. pp. 703-715. 2018.Consider these three positions about physician-assisted suicide:Physician-assisted suicide should be illegal for everyone.Physician-assisted suicide should be legal for only the terminally ill.Physician-assisted suicide should be legal for all competent adults.So far, the debate in America has been primarily between positions 1 and 2. I think it should be between positions 1 and 3. Both those positions embody reasonable viewpoints, and I will not try to decide between them in this chapter. But I…Read more
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33Analysis and its paradoxesIn Edna Ullmann-Margalit (ed.), The Scientific Enterprise, Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. 169--178. 1992.
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32Patient and family decisions about life-extension and deathIn Rosamond Rhodes, Leslie Francis & Anita Silvers (eds.), The Blackwell Guide to Medical Ethics, Blackwell. 2007.The prelims comprise: Rationality Morality Advance Directives Conclusion Notes References Suggested Further Reading.
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27Late in the Quest: The Study of Malory's Morte Darthur as a New Direction in PhilosophyMidwest Studies in Philosophy 23 (1): 312-342. 2002.
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25Imaginary Gardens and Real Toads: On the Ethics of Basing Fiction on Actual PeopleMidwest Studies in Philosophy 16 (1): 142-151. 1991.
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23“Always to do ladies, damosels, and gentlewomen succour”: Women and the Chivalric Code in Malory’s Morte Darthur (review)Midwest Studies in Philosophy 26 (1): 1-12. 2002.
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20"He That Was Courteous, True, and Faithful to His Friend Was That Time Cherished"-Is This Any Way to Run a Professional Association?Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 73 (2). 1999.
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20Letters to the EditorProceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association 66 (7): 43-59. 1993.
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20Goldilocks and Mrs. Ilych: A Critical Look at the “Philosophy of Hospice”Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 6 (3): 314-324. 1997.Anyone who thinks contemporary American society is hopelessly contentious and lacking in shared values has probably not been paying attention to the way the popular media portray the hospice movement. Over and over, we are told such things as that “Humane care costs less than high-tech care and is what patients want and need,” that hospices are “the most effective and least expensive route to a dignified death,” that hospice personnel are “heroic,” that their “compassion and dedication seem inex…Read more
Areas of Interest
17th/18th Century Philosophy |