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557Abortion and the Argument from ConvenienceIn Reproducing Persons, Cornell University Press. 1996.
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515Abortion, Forced Labor, and WarIn Reproducing Persons: Issues in Feminist Bioethics, Cornell University Press. 1996.
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94In Their Best Interest?: The Case Against Equal Rights for ChildrenCornell University Press. 1992.Proponents of children's liberation (CL) argue that there are no morally relevant differences between children and adults. Consequently, special protective laws that limit children's freedom are unjustified, and should be abolished. Protectionists reject the premise of this argument, and hence also the conclusion. Proponents of CL mostly fix upon the capacity for instrumental reasoning as the criterion that should separate autonomous from non-autonomous individuals. I argue that most childr…Read more
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92Medicalization, medical necessity, and feminist medicineBioethics 15 (3). 2001.New and proposed medical technologies continually challenge our vision of what constitutes appropriate medical treatment. As scholars and consumers grapple with the meaning of innovation, one common critical theme to surface is that it constitutes undesirable medicalization. But we are embodied creatures who can often benefit from medical knowledge; in addition, rejection of medicalization may be in some cases based on an untenable appeal to nature. Harnessing the power of medicine for women’s w…Read more
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89Reproducing Persons: Issues in Feminist BioethicsCornell University Press. 1996.Controversies about abortion and women's reproductive technologies often seem to reflect personal experience, religious commitment, or emotional response. Laura M. Purdy believes, however, that coherent ethical principles are implicit in these controversies and that feminist bioethics can help clarify the conflicts of interest which often figure in human reproduction. As she defines the underlying issues, Purdy emphasizes the importance of taking women's interests fully into account. Reproducing…Read more
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64Feminist Perspectives in Medical Ethics (edited book)Indiana University Press. 1992.The fields of medical ethics, bioethics, and women's studies have experienced unprecedented growth in the last forty years. Along with the rapid pace of development in medicine and biology, and changes in social expectations, moral quandaries about the body and social practices involving it have multiplied. Philosophers are uniquely situated to attempt to clarify and resolves these questions. Yet the subdiscipline of bioethics still in large part reflects mainstream scholars' lack of interest in…Read more
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63Women's reproductive autonomy: medicalisation and beyondJournal of Medical Ethics 32 (5): 287-291. 2006.Reproductive autonomy is central to women’s welfare both because childbearing takes place in women’s bodies and because they are generally expected to take primary responsibility for child rearing. In 2005, the factors that influence their autonomy most strongly are poverty and belief systems that devalue such autonomy. Unfortunately, such autonomy is a low priority for most societies, or is anathema to their belief systems altogether. This situation is doubly sad because women’s reproductive au…Read more
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63Prenatal Testing and Disability Rights (review)Social Theory and Practice 27 (4): 681-687. 2001.
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59How Many Gods Does it Take? (To Discredit the Divine Command Theory)Teaching Philosophy 11 (2): 112-115. 1988.
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58In Appreciation of Anne Donchin's Life and WorkInternational Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics 10 (2): 124-132. 2017.This article is an expansion of comments I was honored to present at a celebration of the life and work of Anne Donchin at the June 2016 meeting of the International Network on Feminist Approaches to Bioethics in Edinburgh. It is obviously far from comprehensive, but I hope it gives readers a glimpse of an Anne of whose depths many of us were not fully aware. One of the most difficult parts of talking about someone who has died is highlighting the positive without overdoing it to the extent that…Read more
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51Nature and Nurture: A False Dichotomy?Hypatia 1 (1): 167-174. 1986.Nancy Tuana holds that the nature/nurture dichotomy does not accurately represent the world and hence that a whole series of assumptions about human nature is mistaken. She rejects both biological determinism and alternative interactionist views. I argue that although her arguments and political concerns do rule out any kind of simple biological determinism, they do not show that the alternative interactionist view is untenable: in fact, she uses the distinction in her attempt to demolish it. I …Read more
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49Violence Against Women: Philosophical Perspectives (edited book)Cornell University Press. 1998.This is the first anthology to take a theoretical look at violence against women. Each essay shows how philosophy provides a powerful tool for examining a difficult and deep-rooted social problem. Stanley G. French, Wanda Teays, and Laura M. Purdy, all philosophers, present a familiar phenomenon in a new and striking fashion. The editors employ a two-tiered approach to this vital issue. Contributors consider both interpersonal violence, such as rape and battering; and also systemic violence, suc…Read more
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49In defense of hiring apparently less qualified womenJournal of Social Philosophy 15 (2): 26-33. 1984.
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46Moral Status: Obligations to Persons and Other Living ThingsPhilosophical Review 108 (4): 569. 1999.Moral Status asks what creates moral obligations toward entities. Warren’s thesis is that attempts to ground moral status on a single criterion have been unsuccessful, as they inevitably lead to Procrustean measures to fit diverse values into a single mold. She proposes instead a “multi-criterial’ approach that promises to accommodate these values. In so doing, she expands and generalizes on a strategy she uses quite successfully in her 1990 article “The Moral Significance of Birth” to show why …Read more
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45What Feminism Can Do for BioethicsHealth Care Analysis 9 (2): 117-132. 2001.Feminist criticism of health care and ofbioethics has become increasingly rich andsophisticated in the last years of thetwentieth century. Nonetheless, this body ofwork remains quite marginalized. I believe thatthere are (at least) two reasons for this.First, many people are still confused aboutfeminism. Second, many people are unconvincedthat significant sexism still exists and aretherefore unreceptive to arguments that itshould be remedied if there is no largerbenefit. In this essay I argue fo…Read more
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40Pronatalism Is Violence Against Women: The Role of GeneticsIn Wanda Teays (ed.), Analyzing Violence Against Women, Springer. pp. 113-129. 2019.Pronatalism—the social bias toward having children—is at the core of much violence against women. Its chief characteristic, and its moral Achilles heel, is that it undermines autonomous decision-making about childbearing. Together with its soulmates misogyny and geneticism, it harms children, male partners, and humanity as a whole, given the serious environmental challenges now facing us. But, of course, biology requires women to gestate offspring, and women are generally expected to be responsi…Read more
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40Feminists Healing EthicsHypatia 4 (2). 1989.The field of ethics is enjoying a much-needed renaissance. Traditional theories and approaches are appropriately coming under fire, although not every new idea will stand time's test. Feminist thinking suggests that we at least emphasize the importance of women and their interests, focus on issues specially affecting women, rethink fundamental assumptions, incorporate feminist insights and conclusions from other areas, and be consistent with respect to our concerns about equality by paying atten…Read more
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37Does Women's Liberation Imply Children's Liberation?Hypatia 3 (2). 1988.Shulamith Firestone argues that for women to embrace equal rights without recognizing them for children is unjust. Protection of children is merely repressive control: they are infantilized by our treatment of them. I maintain that many children no longer get much protection, but neither are they being provided with an environment conducive to learning prudence or morality. Recognizing equal rights for children is likely to worsen this situation, not make it better.
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37In tribute to Anne DonchinInternational Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics 8 (1): 1-17. 2015.
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Wells CollegeRetired faculty
Aurora, New York, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Applied Ethics |
Feminist Bioethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
Philosophy of Gender, Race, and Sexuality |