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6Book Review: Fritz Oehlschlaeger, Procreative Ethics: Philosophical and Christian Approaches to Questions at the Beginning of Life (review)Studies in Christian Ethics 27 (1): 111-114. 2014.
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198Double effect donation or bodily respect? A 'third way' response to Camosy and VukovThe Linacre Quarterly. forthcoming.Is it possible to donate unpaired vital organs, foreseeing but not intending one's own death? We argue that this is indeed psychologically possible, and thus far agree with Charles Camosy and Joseph Vukov in their recent paper on 'double effect donation.' Where we disagree with these authors is that we see double effect donation not as a morally praiseworthy act akin to martyrdom but as a morally impermissible act that necessarily disrespects human bodily integrity. Respect for bodily integrity …Read more
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50Double Effect Donation or Bodily Respect? A "Third Way" Response to Camosy and VukovLinacre Quarterly 1-17. forthcoming.Is it possible to donate unpaired vital organs, foreseeing but not intending one’s own death? We argue that this is indeed psychologically possible, and thus far agree with Charles Camosy and Joseph Vukov in their recent paper on “double effect donation.” Where we disagree with these authors is that we see double-effect donation not as a morally praiseworthy act akin to mar- tyrdom but as a morally impermissible act that necessarily disrespects human bodily integrity. Respect for bodily integrit…Read more
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233Do fetuses have the same interests as their mothers?In Nicholas Colgrove, Bruce P. Blackshaw & Daniel Rodger (eds.), Agency, Pregnancy and Persons: Essays in Defense of Human Life, Routledge. pp. 105-123. 2022.Fetuses and their mothers (and other adults) share many objective interests. These include interests in disjunctive ways of achieving human well-being, including the formation and success of good projects such as particular friendships. Pursuing such good projects is in the individual’s interests and is what growing up is all about. Some interests are time-sensitive, and determining which interests apply at what stages in life requires asking which benefits are in some sense appropriate to the i…Read more
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209Complicity or Justified Cooperation in Evil?: Negotiating the TerrainThe National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 21 (2): 209-218. 2021.Cooperation in wrongdoing is an everyday matter for all of us, though we need to discern when such cooperation is morally excluded as constituting formal cooperation, as opposed to material (unintended) cooperation whether justified or otherwise. In this paper, I offer examples of formal cooperation such as referral of patients for certain procedures where the cooperating doctor intends an intrinsically wrongful plan of action on the part of the patient and a medical colleague. I also consider a…Read more
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16Complicity or Justified Cooperation in Evil?The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 21 (2): 209-218. 2021.Cooperation in wrongdoing is an everyday matter for all of us, though we need to discern when such cooperation is morally excluded as constituting formal cooperation, as opposed to material (unintended) cooperation whether justified or otherwise. In this paper, I offer examples of formal cooperation such as referral of patients for certain procedures where the cooperating doctor intends an intrinsically wrongful plan of action on the part of the patient and a medical colleague. I also consider a…Read more
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16A Virtue-Based Defense Of Perinatal Hospice (review)American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 95 (4): 756-758. 2021.
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28Improving Unjust Laws Without Inviting Unjust Plans: The Case of Abortion for Fetal AnomalyLogos I Ethos 53 (1): 179-193. 2020.Some laws cannot yet be entirely abrogated in a current political situation, though permitting grave injustices against some individuals; for example, unborn and/or disabled individuals. In supporting the passing of new ‘imperfect’ laws that protect only some of those who now lack protection, do we ourselves discriminate unjustly against those remaining unprotected? Or does that depend on factors such as our intentions – including what we intend that others intend? How may we collaborate with co…Read more
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273Social and Medical Gender Transition and Acceptance of Biological SexChristian Bioethics 26 (3). 2020.Biological sex should be “acknowledged” and “accepted”—but which responses to gender dysphoria might this preclude? Trans-identified people may factually acknowledge their biological sex and regard transition as purely palliative. While generally some level of self-deception and even a high level of nonlying deception of others are sometimes justified, biological sex is important, and there is a nontrivial onus against even palliative, nonsexually motivated cross-dressing. The onus is higher aga…Read more
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860The Dignity of Human Life: Sketching Out an 'Equal Worth' ApproachEthics and Medicine 36 (1): 7-17. 2020.The term “value of life” can refer to life’s intrinsic dignity: something nonincremental and time-unaffected in contrast to the fluctuating, incremental “value” of our lives, as they are longer or shorter and more or less flourishing. Human beings are equal in their basic moral importance: the moral indignities we condemn in the treatment of e.g. those with dementia reflect the ongoing human dignity that is being violated. Indignities licensed by the person in advance remain indignities, as when…Read more
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513Targeting the Fetal Body and/or Mother-Child Connection: Vital Conflicts and AbortionThe Linacre Quarterly 1-14. 2019.Is the “act itself” of separating a pregnant woman and her previable child neither good nor bad morally, considered in the abstract? Recently, Maureen Condic and Donna Harrison have argued that such separation is justified to protect the mother’s life and that it does not constitute an abortion as the aim is not to kill the child. In our article on maternal–fetal conflicts, we agree there need be no such aim to kill (supplementing aims such as to remove). However, we argue that to understand “ab…Read more
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26Addressing Unjust Laws without Complicity: Selective Bans versus RegulationIn Jason T. Eberl (ed.), Contemporary Controversies in Catholic Bioethics, Springer. pp. 567-582. 2017.A difficult task for politicians who want to fight injustice without doing wrong themselves is identifying where it is permissible to vote for and/or promote so-called “imperfect laws” which somewhat improve existing unjust legal situations but leave closely related injustices intact. One approach is to seek a “selective ban” on some injustices which are politically preventable. This approach is acceptable at least in principle, unlike the approach of “regulation”—i.e., permitting or instructing…Read more
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37Vital Conflicts, Bodily Respect, and Conjoined Twins: Are We Asking the Right Questions?In Jason T. Eberl (ed.), Contemporary Controversies in Catholic Bioethics, Springer. pp. 135-145. 2017.What does it mean to respect life and health in an innocent fellow-human being? Separating conjoined twins where one twin will die as a result need not involve the intention to kill or harm. Arguably, however, not all side-effects are “mere” side-effects which could, in principle, be outweighed by sufficiently good intended effects. Rather, foreseen serious harm for an innocent person we non-therapeutically affect can be morally conclusive when linked to the intention to affect the person’s body…Read more
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337Double effect reasoning: why we need itEthics and Medicine 33 (1): 13-19. 2017.The “principle of double effect” is a vital tool for moral decision making and is applicable to all areas of medical practice, including (for example) end-of-life care, transplant medicine, and cases of conscientious objection. Both our ultimate and our more immediate intentions are relevant in making and evaluating choices— though side effects must be kept proportionate and can be morally conclusive when linked with some intentions. Intentions help to form the character of doctors, and of …Read more
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20Book Review: Fritz Oehlschlaeger, Procreative Ethics: Philosophical and Christian Approaches to Questions at the Beginning of Life (review)Studies in Christian Ethics 27 (1): 111-114. 2014.
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33Intending Reproduction as One’s Primary Aim: Alexander Pruss on ‘Trying for a Baby’Roczniki Filozoficzne 63 (3): 143-154. 2015.May a couple have the aim of conceiving as their primary purpose in having marital relations? In this paper, I argue against the view of Alexander Pruss that it is wrong to do this since it treats human beings as fungible in their creation when their unique features are not known to their parents. I argue that Pruss cannot separate seeking reproduction as part of a marital vocation from seeking the unknown, unspecified child who is part of what makes for success in this particular area. While ne…Read more
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15Abortion and shelter--beyond Thomson's violinistEthics and Medicine: A Christian Perspective on Issues in Bioethics 8 (1): 9-10. 1991.
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63Abortion for Life-Limiting Foetal Anomaly: Beneficial When and for Whom?Clinical Ethics 12 (1). 2017.Abortion for life-limiting foetal anomaly is often an intensely painful choice for the parents; though widely offered and supported, it is surprisingly difficult to defend in ethical terms. Abortion on this ground is sometimes defended as foetal euthanasia but has features which sharply differentiate it from standard non-voluntary euthanasia, not least the fact that any suffering otherwise anticipated for the child may be neither severe nor prolonged. Such abortions may be said to reduce sufferi…Read more
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107Singer on abortion: A utilitarian critiqueAustralasian Journal of Philosophy 67 (2). 1989.This Article does not have an abstract
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47Embryos and pseudoembryos: parthenotes, reprogrammed oocytes and headless clonesJournal of Medical Ethics 33 (9): 554-556. 2007.What makes something an embryo—as opposed to what is actually, and not just in biotech parlance, a collection of cells? This question has come to the fore in recent years with proposals for producing embryonic stem cells for research. While some of those opposed to use of standard embryonic stem cells emphasise that adult cells have a clinical track record, others argue that there may be further benefits obtainable from cells very like those of embryos, provided such cells can be derived in new …Read more
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29Life and Death in Health Care Ethics: A Short IntroductionRoutledge. 2000.In a world of rapid technological advances, the moral issues raised by life and death choices in healthcare remain obscure. _Life and Death in Healthcare Ethics_ provides a concise, thoughtful and extremely accessible guide to these moral issues. Helen Watt examines, using real-life cases, the range of choices taken by healthcare professionals, patients and clients which lead to the shortening of life. The topics looked at include: * euthanasia and withdrawal of treatment * the persistent vegeta…Read more
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36Cooperation and Immoral LawsThe National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 12 (2): 241-248. 2012.In responding to an unjust legal situation involving human rights abuses, one approach is to seek a selective ban on some abuses if a more comprehensive ban is not feasible politically. While such an approach to embryo research or abortion, for example, can reasonably be applied, much harder to defend is regulation—that is, giving permission or instructions for others to do or prepare to do what we believe is morally wrong. Regulation necessarily involves us in wrongly intending that others choo…Read more
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48Incapacity and Care: Controversies in Healthcare and Research (edited book)Linacre Centre. 2009.What are the duties of carers and health professionals to people with mental incapacity? How ought we to think about the ethical and legal issues? What can any of us do to improve and safeguard the lives of those cared for? This book seeks to examine in detail and find ethically robust answers to such questions. Among the topics discussed are withholding treatment, tube-feeding patients with dementia, the 'persistent vegetative state', medical research, and sterilisation of intellectually disabl…Read more
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70_The Ethics of Pregnancy, Abortion and Childbirth_ addresses the unique moral questions raised by pregnancy and its intimate bodily nature. From assisted reproduction to abortion and ‘vital conflict’ resolution to more everyday concerns of the pregnant woman, this book argues for pregnancy as a close human relationship with the woman as guardian or custodian. Four approaches to pregnancy are explored: ‘uni-personal’, ‘neighborly’, ‘maternal’ and ‘spousal’. The author challenges not only the view…Read more
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30Ethics in Reproductive and Perinatal MedicineInternational Philosophical Quarterly 38 (1): 88-89. 1998.
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42A Brief Defense of Frozen Embryo AdoptionThe National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 1 (2): 151-154. 2001.
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49Life and Health: A Value in Itself for Human Beings?HEC Forum 27 (3): 207-228. 2015.The presence of a human being/organism—a living human ‘whole’, with the defining tendency to promote its own welfare—has value in itself, as do the functions which compose it. Life is inseparable from health, since without some degree of healthy functionality the living whole would not exist. The value of life differs both within a single life and between lives. As with any other form of human flourishing, the value of life-and-health must be distinguished from the moral importance of human bein…Read more
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Areas of Specialization
Value Theory |
Philosophy, Misc |
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Action |
Applied Ethics |