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154Syllabus on Ethics in Research: Addendum to the European Textbook on Ethics in ResearchEuropean Union. 2010.The syllabus presented here is designed for use in the training of researchers and research ethics committee members throughout the European Union and beyond. It is intended to be accessible to scientific and lay readers, including those with no previous experience of ethical theory and analysis. The syllabus will cover key issues in the ethics of research involving human participants, including the ethical issues associated with new technologies.
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25Advance euthanasia directives and the Dutch prosecutionJournal of Medical Ethics 47 (4): 253-256. 2021.In a recent Dutch euthanasia case, a woman underwent euthanasia on the basis of an advance directive, having first been sedated without her knowledge and then restrained by members of her family while the euthanasia was administered. This article considers some implications of the criminal court’s acquittal of the doctor who performed the euthanasia. Supporters of advance euthanasia directives have welcomed the judgement as providing a clarification of the law, especially with regard to the admi…Read more
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23Lockdown and levelling down: why Savulescu and Cameron are mistaken about selective isolation of the elderlyJournal of Medical Ethics 46 (11): 722-723. 2020.In their recent article, ‘Why lockdown of the elderly is not ageist and why levelling down equality is wrong’, Savulescu and Cameron argue for selective isolation of the elderly as an alternative to general lockdown. An important part of their argument is the claim that the latter amounts to ‘levelling down equality’ and that this is ‘unethical’ or even ‘morally repugnant’. This response argues that they fail to justify either part of this claim: the claim that levelling down is always morally w…Read more
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23Weighing Ethical Considerations in Proposed Non-recent Child Sexual Abuse Investigations: A Response to Maslen and Paine’s Oxford CSA FrameworkCriminal Justice Ethics 39 (2): 95-110. 2020.Questions about when it is right for police forces to investigate alleged offences committed in the more or less distant past have become increasingly pressing. Recent widely publicized cases of child sexual abuse (CSA) and exploitation, sometimes involving high profile individuals, have illustrated the ethical, psychological, and forensic complexities of investigating non-recent child sexual abuse. Hannah Maslen and Colin Paine have developed the Oxford CSA Framework to assist police to weigh t…Read more
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45Does the heterogeneity of autism undermine the neurodiversity paradigm?Bioethics 35 (1): 47-60. 2021.The neurodiversity paradigm is presented by its proponents as providing a philosophical foundation for the activism of the neurodiversity movement. Its central claims are that autism and other neurodivergent conditions are not disorders because they are not intrinsically harmful, and that they are valuable, natural and/or normal parts of human neurocognitive variation. This paper: (a) identifies the non‐disorder claim as the most central of these, based on its prominence in the literature and co…Read more
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35Transplantation Ethics: R M Veatch. Georgetown University Press, 2000, pound46.75, pp 427. ISBN 0-87840-811- (review)Journal of Medical Ethics 28 (5): 330-3. 2002.Transplantation Ethics is a book that will be welcomed by teachers and students of medical ethics as well as health care professionals and policy makers involved in transplantation issues. The book provides a broad overview of recent and contemporary debates relating to organ transplantation, while also defending particular methods of approaching the ethical questions and using them to argue for particular policy proposals. Most of the book’s chapters are based on previously published material, …Read more
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47Conscientious objection, professional duty and compromise: A response to Savulescu and SchuklenkBioethics 32 (2): 126-131. 2017.In a recent article in this journal, Savulescu and Schuklenk defend and extend their earlier arguments against a right to medical conscientious objection in response to criticisms raised by Cowley. I argue that while it would be preferable to be less accommodating of medical conscientious than many countries currently are, Savulescu and Schuklenk's argument that conscientious objection is ‘simply unprofessional’ is mistaken. The professional duties of doctors should be defined in relation to the…Read more
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42Xenografting: ethical issuesJournal of Medical Ethics 24 (1): 18-24. 1998.This paper considers the ethical issues raised by xenotransplantation underfour headings: interfering with nature; effects on the recipient; effects on other humans; and effects on donor animals. The first two issues raise no insuperable problems: charges of unnaturalness are misguided, and the risks that xenotransplantation carries for the recipient are a matter for properly informed consent. The other two issues raise more serious problems, however, and it is argued that if we take seriously t…Read more
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59Analytical Marxism and Ecology: A Reply to Paul BurkettHistorical Materialism 9 (1): 153-167. 2001.Presents a response to the Paul Burkett's review of the book ``Ecology and Historical Materialism.'' Overview of the book; Details of the criticisms presented by Burkett; Information on sociologist Karl Marx's theory of history
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23Ecology and Historical MaterialismCambridge University Press. 2000.This book challenges the widely-held view that Marxism is unable to deal adequately with environmental problems. Jonathan Hughes considers the nature of environmental problems, and the evaluative perspectives that may be brought to bear on them. He examines Marx's critique of Malthus, his method, and his materialism, interpreting the latter as a recognition of human dependence on nature. Central to the book's argument is an interpretation of the 'development of the productive forces' which takes…Read more
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41Justice and third party risk: The ethics of xenotransplantationJournal of Applied Philosophy 24 (2). 2007.The question of when it is permissible to inflict risks on others without their consent is one that we all face in our everyday lives, but which is often brought to our attention in contexts of technological innovation and scientific uncertainty. Xenotransplantation, the transplantation of organs or tissues from animals to humans, has the potential to save or improve the lives of many patients but gives rise to the possibility of infectious agents being transferred from donor animals into the hu…Read more
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1000Time and Crime: Which Cold-Case Investigations Should Be ReheatedCriminal Justice Ethics 34 (1): 18-41. 2015.Advances in forensic techniques have expanded the temporal horizon of criminal investigations, facilitating investigation of historic crimes that would previously have been considered unsolvable. Public enthusiasm for pursuing historic crimes is exemplified by recent high-profile trials of celebrities accused of historic sexual offences. These circumstances give new urgency to the question of how we should decide which historic offences to investigate. A satisfactory answer must take into accoun…Read more
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Genetically Modified Crops and the Precautionary Principle: Is There a Case for a Moratorium?In B. Almond & M. Parker (eds.), Ethical Issues in the New Genetics: Are Genes Us?, Ashgate. pp. 143-152. 2003.
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55Palliative Care and the QALY ProblemHealth Care Analysis 13 (4): 289-301. 2005.Practitioners of palliative care often argue for more resources to be provided by the state in order to lessen its reliance on charitable funding and to enable the services currently provided to some of those with terminal illnesses to be provided to all who would benefit from it. However, this is hard to justify on grounds of cost-effectiveness, since it is in the nature of palliative care that the benefits it brings to its patients are of short duration. In particular, palliative care fares ba…Read more
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17The ethics of xenotransplantationIn R. Ashcroft, A. Dawson, H. Draper & J. McMillan (eds.), Principles of Health Care Ethics, Wiley. pp. 775-781. 2007.
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82Consequentialism and the slippery slope: A response to ClarkJournal of Applied Philosophy 17 (2). 2000.Michael Clark has recently argued that the slippery slope argument against voluntary euthanasia is ‘entirely consequentialist’ and that its use to justify continued prohibition of voluntary euthanasia involves a failure to treat patients who request assistance in ending their lives as ends in themselves. This article agues that in fact the slippery slope is consistent with most forms of deontology, and that it need not involve any violation of the principle that people should be treated as ends…Read more
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24Conscientious objection in healthcare: why tribunals might be the answerJournal of Medical Ethics 43 (4): 213-217. 2016.A recent focus of the debate on conscientious objection in healthcare is the question of whether practitioners should have to justify their refusal to perform certain functions. A recent article by Cowley addresses a practical aspect of this controversy, namely the question of whether doctors claiming conscientious objector status in relation to abortion should be required, like their counterparts claiming exemption from military conscription, to defend their claim before a tribunal. Cowley argu…Read more
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81How not to criticize the precautionary principleJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 31 (5). 2006.The precautionary principle has its origins in debates about environmental policy, but is increasingly invoked in bioethical contexts. John Harris and Søren Holm argue that the principle should be rejected as incoherent, irrational, and representing a fundamental threat to scientific advance and technological progress. This article argues that while there are problems with standard formulations of the principle, Harris and Holm's rejection of all its forms is mistaken. In particular, they focus …Read more
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115The rule of rescue in clinical practiceClinical Ethics 4 (1): 50-54. 2009.People often have a strong intuitive sense that we ought to rescue those in serious need, even in cases where we could produce better outcomes by acting in other ways. It has become common in such cases to refer to this as the Rule of Rescue. Within the medical field this rule has predominantly been discussed in relation to decisions about whether to fund particular treatments. Whilst in this setting the arguments in favour of the Rule of Rescue have generally been found to be unconvincing, ther…Read more
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32Theory of professional standards and ethical policingIn Allyson Macvean, Peter Spindler & Charlotte Solf (eds.), Handbook of Policing, Ethics and Professional Standards, Routledge. 2012.What is the relation between professional standards and ethical policing? At first sight the answer to this question may seem obvious: in policing, as elsewhere, professional standards exist in order to promote ethical behaviour. This view, however, is both open to challenge and in need of elaboration. Sceptics can point to a range of non-moral functions and unintended consequences that may be associated with professional standards while those wishing to develop and implement professional standa…Read more
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3861Development of the productive forces: an ecological analysisStudies in Marxism 2 179-198. 1995.Marxism has long been subject to criticism from the theorists of Political Ecology, and in recent years, as the concerns of Green thinkers have become harder to ignore, Marxists have begun to respond to this challenge, defending and sometimes amending Marxist theory in response to Green criticisms. This paper addresses one issue within this debate: the controversy over Marx’s commitment to the growth, or development, of the productive forces. My aim is to dispute the contention of Marx’s Green c…Read more
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |