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12War, Bioethics, and Public HealthAmerican Journal of Bioethics 1-15. forthcoming.This paper argues that bioethics as a field should broaden its scope to include the ethics of war, focusing on war’s public health effects. The “Introduction” section describes the bioethics literature on war, which emphasizes clinical and research topics while omitting public health. The section, “War as a public health crisis” demonstrates the need for a public health ethics approach by framing war as a public health crisis. The section, “Bioethics principles for war and public health” propose…Read more
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28Two “Normative” Conceptions of PersonhoodQuest - and African Journal of Philosophy 25 (1-2): 103-118. 2011.
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27Toward an Africanized Bioethics CurriculumCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 30 (1): 103-113. 2021.Although many bioethicists have given attention to the special health issues of Africa and to the ethics of research on the continent, only a handful have considered these issues through the lens of African moral thought. The question has been for the most part neglected as to what a distinctively African moral perspective would be for the analysis and teaching of bioethics issues. To address the oversight, the authors of this paper describe embarking on a project aimed at incorporating African …Read more
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35A principled ethical approach to intersex paediatric surgeriesBMC Medical Ethics 21 (1): 1-9. 2020.Background Surgery for intersex infants should be delayed until individuals are able to decide for themselves, except where it is a medical necessity. In an ideal world, this single principle would suffice and such surgeries could be totally prohibited. Unfortunately, the world is not perfect, and, in some places, intersex neonates are at risk of being abandoned, mutilated or even killed. As long as intersex persons are at such high risk in some places, any ethical guidelines for intersex surger…Read more
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34Assisted dying: Why the Argument from Sufficient Palliation failsSouth African Journal of Philosophy 36 (2): 186-194. 2017.
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47A critique of the principle of ‘respect for autonomy’, grounded in African thoughtDeveloping World Bioethics 18 (2): 126-134. 2018.I give an account how the principle of ‘respect for autonomy’ dominates the field of bioethics, and how it came to triumph over its competitors, ‘respect for persons’ and ‘respect for free power of choice’. I argue that ‘respect for autonomy’ is unsatisfactory as a basic principle of bioethics because it is grounded in too individualistic a worldview, citing concerns of African theorists and other communitarians who claim that the principle fails to acknowledge the fundamental importance of unde…Read more
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18Managing Human Tissue Transfer Across National Boundaries – An Approach from an Institution in South AfricaDeveloping World Bioethics 16 (1): 29-35. 2015.With biobank research on the increase and the history of exploitation in Africa, it has become necessary to manage the transfer of human tissues across national boundaries. There are many accepted templates of Material Transfer Agreements that currently exist internationally. However, these templates do not address the specific concerns of South Africa and even of Africa as a continent. This article will examine three significantly important ethico-legal concepts that were deliberated and carefu…Read more
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91Exploring African Holism with Respect to the EnvironmentEnvironmental Values 19 (4): 465-484. 2010.Contrary to a pervasive presumption of anthropocentricism in African thought, I identify an emphasis on the interrelatedness or interconnectedness of everything in nature, and argue that this is best construed as a rejection of anthropocentrism, and as something similar in conception to, and yet distinct from, holist perspectives. I propose that this strand of African thought, suitably reconstructed, should be construed as providing the basis for a promising non-anthropocentric African environme…Read more
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44Towards an Indigenous African BioethicsSouth African Journal of Bioethics and Law 6 (1): 30. 2013.
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44Great Expectations: Teaching Ethics to Medical Students in South AfricaDeveloping World Bioethics 14 (3): 142-149. 2013.Many academic philosophers and ethicists are appointed to teach ethics to medical students. We explore exactly what this task entails. In South Africa the Health Professions Council's curriculum for training medical practitioners requires not only that students be taught to apply ethical theory to issues and be made aware of the legal and regulatory requirements of their profession, it also expects moral formation and the inculcation of professional virtue in students. We explore whether such ex…Read more
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30Virginity testing in South Africa: a cultural concession taken too far?South African Journal of Philosophy 33 (2): 177-187. 2014.The Children’s Act and its associated regulations allow for virginity tests to be performed on male and female children over the age of 16. This is subject to a number of legislated conditions, including that informed consent should be obtained. In this article I argue that, whilst it is important that the right to social and cultural practice be protected in South Africa, virginity testing is a practice that cannot be morally justified. Firstly, I defend the claim that the practice is inherentl…Read more
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86An African Relational Environmentalism and Moral ConsiderabilityEnvironmental Ethics 36 (1): 63-82. 2014.There is a pervasive presumption that African thought is inherently anthropocentric and has little to contribute to environmental ethics. Against this view, a promising African environmentalism can be be found in a belief in a fundamental interrelatedness between natural objects. What establishes moral considerability on this African view is that entities are part of the interconnected web of life. This position accords moral standing to all living things, groups of living things, as well as ina…Read more
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24Hearing sub-Saharan African voices in bioethicsTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 38 (2): 95-99. 2017.
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28Why physicians ought not to perform virginity testsJournal of Medical Ethics 41 (8): 691-695. 2015.
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33Bridging the Gap: Focussed, In-depth and Practical Short Courses in Bioethics and Health LawSouth African Journal of Bioethics and Law 5 (2). 2012.
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77Moral obligations towards future generations in African thoughtJournal of Global Ethics 8 (2-3): 179-191. 2012.Given the importance of being able to account for moral obligations towards future generations, especially in the light of the problem of global climate change, I argue that there are under-appreciated notions in African thought that are able to significantly contribute to the on-going discourse with respect to inter-generational moral obligations. I identify two related African notions, both springing from the prominent belief that ancestors who have died ? but continue to have a presence ? are…Read more
University of Johannesburg
PhD, 2012
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Biomedical Ethics |
Environmental Ethics |
Professional Ethics |