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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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Robots 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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2Nancy 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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2AI 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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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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19Personhood 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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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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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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22Academic freedom under siegeJournal of Medical Ethics. forthcoming.This paper describes a global pattern of declining academic freedom, often driven by powerful political interference with core functions of academic communities. It argues that countering threats to academic freedom requires doubling down on ethics, specifically standards of justice and fairness in pursuing knowledge and assigning warrant to beliefs. Using the example of the selection of a Qatari university to host the 2024 World Congress of Bioethics, the authors urge fairness towards diverse g…Read more
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36Proposed Principles for International Bioethics Conferencing: Anti-Discriminatory, Global, and InclusiveAmerican Journal of Bioethics 24 (4): 13-28. 2023.This paper opens a critical conversation about the ethics of international bioethics conferencing and proposes principles that commit to being anti-discriminatory, global, and inclusive. We launch this conversation in the Section, Case Study, with a case example involving the International Association of Bioethics’ (IAB’s) selection of Qatar to host the 2024 World Congress of Bioethics. IAB’s choice of Qatar sparked controversy. We believe it also may reveal deeper issues of Islamophobia in bioe…Read more
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405Bridging East-West Differences in Ethics Guidance for AI and RobotsAI 3 (3): 764-777. 2022.Societies of the East are often contrasted with those of the West in their stances toward technology. This paper explores these perceived differences in the context of international ethics guidance for artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. Japan serves as an example of the East, while Europe and North America serve as examples of the West. The paper’s principal aim is to demonstrate that Western values predominate in international ethics guidance and that Japanese values serve as a much-nee…Read more
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182Two Steps Forward: An African Relational Account of Moral StandingPhilosophy and Technology 35 (2): 38. 2022.This paper replies to a commentary by John-Stewart Gordon on our paper, “The Moral Standing of Social Robots: Untapped Insights from Africa.” In the original paper, we set forth an African relational view of personhood and show its implica- tions for the moral standing of social robots. This reply clarifies our position and answers three objections. The objections concern (1) the ethical significance of intelligence, (2) the meaning of ‘pro-social,’ and (3) the justification for prioritizing hum…Read more
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8Global Health Partnerships and Emerging Infectious DiseasesIn Erick Valdés & Juan Alberto Lecaros (eds.), Handbook of Bioethical Decisions. Volume I: Decisions at the Bench, Springer Verlag. pp. 397-413. 2023.Drawing on recent bioethics literature on emerging infectious diseases, as well as the authors’ own previous analyses, this chapter addresses the ethical underpinnings of global health partnerships to combat emerging infectious disease. After an introduction to the topic, section “Introduction” proposes the twin ends of establishing structural justice and ensuring threshold human capabilities as key justice standards. It shows how these standards play a critical role in determining justice in gl…Read more
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6Caring for Patients in Cross‐Cultural SettingsHastings Center Report 25 (1): 6-14. 2012.A caregiver from the dominant U.S. culture and a patient from a very different culture can resolve cross‐cultural disputes about treatment, not by compromising important values, but by focusing on the patient's goals.
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9When Not to Rescue: An Ethical Analysis of Best Practices for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular CareJournal of Clinical Ethics 28 (1): 44-56. 2017.It is now a default obligation to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), in the absence of knowledge of a patient’s or surrogate’s wishes to the contrary. We submit that it is time to reevaluate this position. Attempting CPR should be subject to the same scrutiny demanded of other medical interventions that involve balancing a great benefit against grievous harms.
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2Insights Pertaining to Patient Assessments of States Worse than DeathJournal of Clinical Ethics 4 (1): 33-41. 1993.
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31Insights Pertaining to Patient Assessments of States Worse than DeathJournal of Clinical Ethics 4 (1): 33-41. 1993.
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19Commentary: The Moral Status of Patients Who Are Not Strict PersonsJournal of Clinical Ethics 1 (1): 35-38. 1990.
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88When Families Request That 'Everything Possible' Be DoneJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 20 (2): 145-163. 1995.The paper explores the ethical and psychological issues that arise when family members request that “everything possible” be done for a particular patient. The paper first illustrates this phenomenon by reviewing the well known case of Helga Wanglie. We proceed to argue that in Wanglie and similar cases family members may request futile treatments as a means of conveying that (1) the loss of the patient is tantamount to losing a part of themselves; (2) the patient should not be abandoned or disv…Read more
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52The Problem with Rescue MedicineJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 38 (1): 64-81. 2013.Is there a rational and ethical basis for efforts to rescue individuals in dire straits? When does rescue have ethical support, and when does it reflect an irrational impulse? This paper defines a Rule of Rescue and shows its intuitive appeal. It then proceeds to argue that this rule lacks support from standard principles of justice and from ethical principles more broadly, and should be rejected in many situations. I distinguish between agent-relative and agent-neutral reasons, and argue that t…Read more
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95Separating Care and Cure: An Analysis of Historical and Contemporary Images of Nursing and MedicineJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 16 (3): 285-306. 1991.This paper provides a philosophical critique of professional stereotypes in medicine. In the course of this critique, we also offer a detailed analysis of the concept of care in health care. The paper first considers possible explanations for the traditional stereotype that caring is a province of nurses and women, while curing is an arena suited for physicians and men. It then dispels this stereotype and fine tunes the concept of care. A distinction between ‘caring for’ and ‘caring about’ is ma…Read more
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61An Ethical Framework for Rationing Health CareJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 17 (1): 79-96. 1992.This paper proposes an ethical framework for rationing publicly financed health care. We begin by classifying alternative rationing criteria according to their ethical basis. We then examine the ethical arguments for four rationing criteria. These alternatives include rationing high technology services, non-basic services, services to patients who receive the least medical benefit, and services that are not equally available to all. We submit that a just health care system will not limit basic h…Read more
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30Medical Futility and Physician Assisted DeathIn Michael Cholbi & Jukka Varelius (eds.), New Directions in the Ethics of Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia, Springer Verlag. pp. 203-223. 2015.This chapter addresses the close association between withholding and withdrawing futile life-sustaining medical treatments and assisting patients with hastening ending their lives. Section 12.2 sets forth a definition of medical futility and places this concept in the broader context of bioethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence and justice. Section 12.3 draws out futility’s ethical implications and considers the view that physicians are ethically permitted to refrain from me…Read more
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11Bioethics: an introduction to the history, methods, and practice (edited book)Jones and Bartlett Publishers. 2012.Part III: Now presents solely, clinical ethics. --
APA Western Division
Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong
Areas of Specialization
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Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Social and Political Philosophy |
African/Africana Philosophy |
Asian Philosophy |
Philosophy of Computing and Information |