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24Sources of Normativity: How Multicultural Values EmergeAmerican Journal of Bioethics 3 (2): 16-18. forthcoming.
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48The Theory and Practice of ProfessionalismAmerican Journal of Bioethics 4 (2): 47-48. forthcoming.
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16Uncovering Cultural Bias in Ethics ConsultationAmerican Journal of Bioethics 1 (4): 49-50. forthcoming.
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Obligations to Future Generations: A Critical Study of Teleological and Deontological Moral TheoriesDissertation, University of Washington. 1986.Normative ethical theories can be classified into two broad categories: Teleological theories are those that regard an act or policy as right, just in case it brings about the best overall consequences for persons; Deontological theories typically place more or less absolute constraints on certain forms of conduct, irrespective of whether, in particular circumstances, instances of these forms produce the best overall consequences. The question of whether, and to what extent, members of present g…Read more
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Mark Platts, "Moral realities: An essay in philosophical psychology" (review)Journal of Value Inquiry 27 (2): 279. 1993.
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1Robots without Sophisticated Cognitive Capacities: Are They Persons?Philosophy and Technology 37 (2): 1-5. 2024.This Commentary critiques Paul Showler’s combination view of robot moral status, which combines sophisticated cognitive capacities like consciousness with highly valued machine-human relationships. Showler holds that a combined approach carries the advantage of more fully accounting for ordinary folk psychology views about of what it means to have moral standing and be a person. This commentary paper is largely sympathetic to Showler, but argues for a stronger view: being a person is a cluster c…Read more
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3Nancy S. Jecker, Zohar Lederman, and Anita Ho replyHastings Center Report 54 (3): 59-60. 2024.This letter replies to the letter “Colonial and Neocolonial Barriers to Companion Digital Humans in Africa,” by Luís Cordeiro‐Rodrigues, in the same, May‐June 2024, issue of the Hastings Center Report.
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3AI and the falling sky: interrogating X-RiskJournal of Medical Ethics. forthcoming.The Buddhist Jātaka tells the tale of a hare lounging under a palm tree who becomes convinced the Earth is coming to an end when a ripe bael fruit falls on its head. Soon all the hares are running; other animals join them, forming a stampede of deer, boar, elk, buffalo, wild oxen, rhinoceros, tigers and elephants, loudly proclaiming the earth is ending.1 In the American retelling, the hare is ‘chicken little,’ and the exaggerated fear is that the sky is falling. The story offers a cautionary tal…Read more
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10Extremely Relational Robots: Implications for Law and EthicsPhilosophy and Technology 37 (2): 1-6. 2024.This Commentary critiques an extremely relational view of robot moral status, drawing out its practical implications for ethics and law. It also suggests next steps for AI ethics if extremely relational reasoning is compelling. Section I introduces the topic, distinguishing an ‘extremely relational’ view from more moderate relational views. Section II illustrates extremely relational views using the example of embodiment. Section III explores practical implications of extremely relational views …Read more
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17Digital Humans to Combat Loneliness and Social Isolation: Ethics Concerns and Policy RecommendationsHastings Center Report 54 (1): 7-12. 2024.Social isolation and loneliness are growing concerns around the globe that put people at increased risk of disease and early death. One much‐touted approach to addressing them is deploying artificially intelligent agents to serve as companions for socially isolated and lonely people. Focusing on digital humans, we consider evidence and ethical arguments for and against this approach. We set forth and defend public health policies that respond to concerns about replacing humans, establishing infe…Read more
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2The Eclipse of the Individual in Policy (Where is the Place for Justice?)Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 5 (4): 519-532. 1996.Several inquires about healthcare over the past several decades have shown that the evolution of healthcare practices exhibit their own microcosm of local and political influences. Likewise, other studies have shown clearly the ways in which both external and internal institutional factors establish the sectors within which healthcare is delivered. Although restrictions have always been present in some form, it seems obvious that whatever the precise form of healthcare delivery that results from…Read more
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27The dignity of work: An ethical argument against mandatory retirementJournal of Social Philosophy 54 (2): 152-168. 2022.Journal of Social Philosophy, EarlyView.
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10Ubuntu and BioethicsIn Björn Freter, Elvis Imafidon & Mpho Tshivhase (eds.), Handbook of African Philosophy, Springer Verlag. pp. 161-180. 2023.This chapter draws on the sub-Saharan African concept of ubuntu (humanness) to identify salient features within African ethics that can shed important light on central topics in contemporary bioethics. It describes three specific areas where ubuntu is well positioned to make transformative and lasting changes. First, an ubuntu-informed conception of what it means to be a person in the moral sense can enhance standard bioethical understandings of who qualifies as a subject of moral concern and wh…Read more
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13PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: Lessons from Africa: Ubuntu, solidarity, dignity, kinship, and humilityBioethics 38 (1): 5-10. 2023.This paper addresses bioethics in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. The Introduction (Section 1) highlights that at the field's inception, infectiousness was not front and center. Instead, infectious disease was widely perceived as having been conquered. This made it possible for bioethicists to center values such as individual autonomy, informed consent, and a statist conception of justice. Section 2 urges shifting to values more fitting for the moment the world i…Read more
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11Are Neurorights Global?American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 14 (4): 369-371. 2023.Neurorights were first articulated in response to perceived threats from advances in neurotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI). They purport to protect people’s cognitive capabilities agains...
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20Personhood Beyond the WestAmerican Journal of Bioethics 24 (1): 59-62. 2024.Is it time to ditch the concept of “person” from practical fields, like bioethics? Blumenthal-Barby (2024) answers in the affirmative. They urge leaving personhood out of practical debates at the f...
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21Social Robots to Fend Off Loneliness?Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 33 (3): 249-276. 2023.ABSTRACT: Social robots are increasingly being deployed to address social isolation and loneliness, particularly among older adults. Clips on social media attest that individuals availing themselves of this option are pleased with their robot companions. Yet, some people find the use of social robots to meet fundamental human emotional needs disturbing. This article clarifies and critically evaluates this response. It sets forth a framework for loneliness, which characterizes one kind of lonelin…Read more
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301Cash Incentives, Ethics, and COVID-19 VaccinationScience 6569 (374): 819-820. 2021.Monetary incentives to increase COVID-19 vaccinations are widely used. Even if they work, whether such payments are ethical is contested. This paper reviews ethical arguments for and against using monetary incentives that appeal to utility, liberty, civic responsibility, equity, exploitation, and autonomy. It concludes that in low-income nations and nations with meagre safety nets and income inequality, policy-makers should proceed with caution.
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University of JohannesburgVisiting Professor
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Areas of Specialization
Philosophical Traditions |
Value Theory |
Other Academic Areas |
Philosophy, Misc |
Areas of Interest
Philosophical Traditions |
Value Theory |
Other Academic Areas |
Philosophy, Misc |