•  169
    The metaphysical basis of a liberal organ procurement policy
    Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 31 (4): 303-315. 2010.
    There remains a need to properly analyze the metaphysical assumptions underlying two organ procurement policies: presumed consent and organ sales. Our contention is that if one correctly understands the metaphysics of both the human body and material property, then it will turn out that while organ sales are illiberal, presumed consent is not. What we mean by illiberal includes violating rights of bodily integrity, property, or autonomy, as well as arguing for or against a policy in a manner tha…Read more
  •  202
    Why Consent May Not Be Needed For Organ Procurement
    with David B. Hershenov
    American Journal of Bioethics 9 (8): 3-10. 2009.
    Most people think it is wrong to take organs from the dead if the potential donors had previously expressed a wish not to donate. Yet people respond differently to a thought experiment that seems analogous in terms of moral relevance to taking organs without consent. We argue that our reaction to the thought experiment is most representative of our deepest moral convictions. We realize not everyone will be convinced by the conclusions we draw from our thought experiment. Therefore, we point out …Read more
  •  45
    Therapy, Enhancement, and Medicine: Challenges for the Doctor–Patient Relationship and Patient Safety
    with David Martin
    Journal of Business Ethics 146 (4): 831-844. 2017.
    There are ethical guidelines that form the foundation of the traditional doctor–patient relationship in medicine. Health care providers are under special obligations to their patients. These include obligations to disclose information, to propose alternative treatments that allow patients to make decisions based on their own values, and to have special concern for patients’ best interests. Furthermore, patients know that these obligations exist and so come to their physicians with a significant …Read more
  •  12
    Tolerance and Tact
    Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines 22 (4): 27-31. 2003.
  •  12
    Response to Open Peer Commentaries on “Why Consent May Not Be Needed For Organ Procurement”
    with David B. Hershenov
    American Journal of Bioethics 9 (8): 1-2. 2009.
    No abstract
  •  16
    Embryo Loss and Moral Status
    Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 48 (3): 252-264. 2023.
    There is a significant debate over the moral status of human embryos. This debate has important implications for practices like abortion and IVF. Some argue that embryos have the same moral status as infants, children, and adults. However, critics claim that the frequency of pregnancy loss/miscarriage/spontaneous abortion shows a moral inconsistency in this view. One line of criticism is that those who know the facts about pregnancy loss and nevertheless attempt to conceive children are willing …Read more
  •  10
    Doctor–Patient Relationship: Does Christianity Make a Difference?
    Christian Bioethics 27 (1): 1-13. 2021.
    The nature of the doctor–patient relationship is central to the practice of medicine and thus to bioethics. The American Medical Association (in AMA principles of medical ethics, available at: https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/ethics/patient-physician-relationships, 2016) states, “The practice of medicine, and its embodiment in the clinical encounter between a patient and a physician, is fundamentally a moral activity that arises from the imperative to care for patients and to alleviate s…Read more
  •  20
    On the Ranking of Teams
    Philosophia 50 (2): 567-579. 2021.
    In this paper, we argue that in a possible world there is a determinate ranking of teams. Our argument rests on the premise: In theory, nothing prevents a determinate better than ranking. This premise in turn rests on assumptions with regard to stipulations regarding ‘better than’ and nature of a competition as well as a right answer theory of interpretation. We then speculate that in some actual leagues in some years, there were determinate rankings. We consider objections that focus on ties, n…Read more
  •  10
    Beyond Neuroscience: Non-Experimental Arguments Against Commonly Held Ethical Beliefs
    American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 1 (4): 51-52. 2010.
  •  76
    Well-being is that which is non-instrumentally good for a person. It is identical to how well someone's life goes. There are three main theories of well-being: hedonism, desire-fulfillment, and objective list theories. Each of these theories is subject to criticism, which has led some philosophers to posit a hybrid theory in which well-being is defined as taking pleasure in objective goods. One problem that comes with such an account is the possibility of what I will call harmless pleasures; tha…Read more
  •  22
    Catholicism, the Role of the State, and the Duty to Vacciniate
    American Journal of Bioethics 17 (4): 56-57. 2017.
  •  63
    Advances in the understanding of genetics have led to the belief that it may become possible to use genetic engineering to manipulate the DNA of humans at the embryonic stage to produce certain desirable traits. Although this currently cannot be done on a large scale, many people nevertheless object in principle to such practices. Most often, they argue that genetic enhancements would harm the children who were engineered, cause societal harms, or that the risks of perfecting the procedures are …Read more
  •  53
    Revisiting the Non-Identity Problem and the Virtues of Parenthood
    American Journal of Bioethics 12 (4): 24-26. 2012.
    The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 12, Issue 4, Page 24-26, April 2012
  •  27
    The role of physician opinion in human enhancement
    with David P. Martin
    American Journal of Bioethics 11 (1). 2011.
    This Article does not have an abstract
  •  42
    Catholicism, the Human Form, and Genetic Engineering
    Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 84 75-87. 2010.
    In September of 2008, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published Dignitas Personae, which addresses several newly emerging topics in thearea of biomedical ethics. One of these topics is genetic engineering, which we can define as the intentional manipulation of genetic material so as to produce some desired trait or characteristic. Genetic engineering is discussed in Dignitas Personae, but is done so relatively briefly. In this paper, I explore some of the metaphysical and ethical …Read more
  •  38
    Tolerance and Tact
    Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines 22 (4): 27-31. 2003.
  •  20
    Wrongful Life and the Human Embryo
    The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 8 (4): 655-662. 2008.
  •  14
    Catholicism, the Human Form, and Genetic Engineering
    Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 84 75-87. 2010.
    In September of 2008, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published Dignitas Personae, which addresses several newly emerging topics in thearea of biomedical ethics. One of these topics is genetic engineering, which we can define as the intentional manipulation of genetic material so as to produce some desired trait or characteristic. Genetic engineering is discussed in Dignitas Personae, but is done so relatively briefly. In this paper, I explore some of the metaphysical and ethical …Read more
  •  44
    The Catholic Position on Germ Line Genetic Engineering
    American Journal of Bioethics 9 (11): 33-34. 2009.
  •  48
    A Rethinking of Contemporary Religious Tolerance
    with Jeffrey Dueck
    Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 77 73-82. 2003.
    In relating philosophy to intercultural understanding, one of the key problems that arises is that of the relationship between tolerance and religious belief.This paper challenges the common understanding of tolerance in contemporary debates over religious diversity. It argues that tolerance is overused and over-applied in these debates, and has wrongfully come to refer to tactlessness, harshness of condemnation, and even exclusivity of belief. In seeking to clarify the concept and ensure its ap…Read more
  •  48
    Embryo Loss in Natural Procreation and Stem Cell Research
    The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 12 (3): 461-476. 2012.
    John Harris argues that opponents of human embryonic stem cell research, Catholics specifically, suffer an inconsistency in their moral thinking, opposing it on the basis that the sacrifice of an embryo is impermissible even for the good of curing disease. They have no objection to natural procreation, however, which results in many early miscarriages. Harris contends that Catholics tacitly endorse these miscarriages as a permissible sacrifice for the good of producing other, healthy children. T…Read more
  •  53
  •  10
    A Rethinking of Contemporary Religious Tolerance
    with Jeffrey Dueck
    Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 77 73-82. 2003.
    In relating philosophy to intercultural understanding, one of the key problems that arises is that of the relationship between tolerance and religious belief.This paper challenges the common understanding of tolerance in contemporary debates over religious diversity. It argues that tolerance is overused and over-applied in these debates, and has wrongfully come to refer to tactlessness, harshness of condemnation, and even exclusivity of belief. In seeking to clarify the concept and ensure its ap…Read more