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254Persons, Moral Worth, and Embryos: A Critical Analysis of Pro-Choice Arguments (edited book)Springer. 2011.Given the issues discussed and that the arguments in critical focus are fairly new, the collection provides a novel, comprehensive, and rigorous analysis of contemporary pro-choice arguments.”.
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87Challenging research on human subjects: justice and uncompensated harmsTheoretical Medicine and Bioethics 34 (1): 29-51. 2013.Ethical challenges to certain aspects of research on human subjects are not uncommon; examples include challenges to first-in-human trials (Chapman in J Clin Res Bioethics 2(4):1–8, 2011), certain placebo controlled trials (Anderson in J Med Philos 31:65–81, 2006; Anderson and Kimmelman in Kennedy Inst Ethics J 20(1):75–98, 2010) and “sham” surgery (Macklin in N Engl J Med 341:992–996, 1999). To date, however, there are few challenges to research when the subjects are competent and the research …Read more
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57Perception of Value and the Minimally Conscious StateHEC Forum 27 (3): 265-286. 2015.The “disability paradox” is the idea that for those who become severely disabled, their own quality of life assessment remains at or slightly below the QoL assessments of normal controls. This is a source of skepticism regarding third-person QoL judgments of the disabled. I argue here that this skepticism applies as well to those who are in the minimally conscious state. For rather simple means of sustaining an MCS patient’s life, the cost of being wrong that the patient would not want further s…Read more
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49A Regulatory Argument Against Human Embryonic Stem Cell ResearchJournal of Medicine and Philosophy 34 (5): 496-508. 2009.This article explores the plausibility of an argument against embryonic stem cell research based on what the regulations already say about research on pregnant women and fetuses. The center of the argument is the notion of vulnerability and whether such a concept is applicable to human embryos. It is argued that such an argument can be made plausible. The article concludes by responding to several important objections.
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47Brain Death, Souls, and Integrated Functioning: Reply to Verheijde and PottsChristian Bioethics 19 (1): 25-39. 2013.Recently, Verheijde and Potts (2011) have called into question the whole-brain death (WBD) criterion and, in particular, have taken issue with my admittedly limited defense of WBD. I would like to thank Verheijde and Potts for their comments and for identifying key points in the debate that need further clarification and defense. This article is an attempt to provide such clarification and to focus on Verheijde and Potts’s key argument against me and other proponents of WBD. The structure of thi…Read more
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43Twinning, Identity, and Moral StatusAmerican Journal of Bioethics 13 (1): 42-43. 2013.No abstract
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41Twinning, Substance, and Identity through TimeThe National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 8 (2): 255-264. 2008.The author reviews one of the more intriguing articles in the stem cell research issue of the journal Metaphilosophy (April 2007), “Killing Embryos for Stem Cell Research,” by Jeff McMahan. He begins by recapitulating McMahan’s argument against the proposition that we are essentially individual human organisms. He then turns to two main critiques of the argument. First, he shows that the term “essentially” is insufficiently defined by McMahan and, more important, if we take the typical explicati…Read more
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41The Dead Donor Rule and Means-End ReasoningCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 21 (1): 134-140. 2012.
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40Book reviews (review)Sophia 42 (1): 125-126. 2003.Book Review. . ???aop.label???. doi: 10.1080/00048402.2014.929720
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38Why Are Religious Reasons Dismissed? Euthanasia, Basic Goods, and Gratuitous EvilChristian Bioethics 22 (3): 276-300. 2016.
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36Belmont Revisited: Ethical Principles for Research with Human Subjects, edited by James F. Childress, Eric M. Meslin, and Harold T. Shapiro (review)The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 7 (4): 838-841. 2007.
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33Thought Experiments, the Reliability of Intuitions, and Human Embryonic Stem Cell ResearchInternational Philosophical Quarterly 56 (1): 77-98. 2016.It is common in bioethical discussion to present thought experiments or cases in order to construct an argument. Some thought experiments are quite illuminating, and ethical theorizing will often appeal at some point to one’s intuitions. But there are cases in which thought experiments are useless or do not contribute to the argument. This article considers cases presented in the context of stem cell research that are destructive of human embryos. I argue that certain popular cases that are mean…Read more
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33Out of the Frying Pan and Into the FireAmerican Journal of Bioethics 11 (8): 60-61. 2011.The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 11, Issue 8, Page 60-61, August 2011.
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30Dark Medicine: Rationalizing Unethical Medical Research edited by William R. LaFleur, Gernot Böhme, and Susumu ShimazonoThe National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 8 (4): 804-807. 2008.
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30Vulnerable EmbryosAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 84 (4): 781-810. 2010.Contemporary philosophical discussion on human embryonic stem cell research has focused primarily on the metaphysical and meta-ethical issues suchresearch raises. Though these discussions are interesting, largely ignored are arguments rooted in the secular research ethics tradition already informing humansubject research. This tradition countenances the notion of vulnerability and that vulnerable human subjects (of which human embryos are likely members)ought to be protected from research-relate…Read more
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29Vulnerable EmbryosAmerican Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 84 (4): 781-810. 2010.Contemporary philosophical discussion on human embryonic stem cell research has focused primarily on the metaphysical and meta-ethical issues suchresearch raises. Though these discussions are interesting, largely ignored are arguments rooted in the secular research ethics tradition already informing humansubject research. This tradition countenances the notion of vulnerability and that vulnerable human subjects (of which human embryos are likely members)ought to be protected from research-relate…Read more
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25Moral Enhancement Is IrrationalActa Analytica 38 (4): 653-665. 2023.Debates on moral enhancement focus legitimate attention on the questions of whether it is possible and/or what could count as a moral enhancement given deep ethical disagreement. I argue here that moral enhancements might not even be rational to consider—from the perspective of the agent. At issue is the assessment of whether the enhancement is truly reliable. Since we assess reliable belief forming processes by their outputs, whether they are true, an agent who is entertaining a putative moral …Read more
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24Is rowe committed to an expanded version of theism?Sophia 41 (2): 31-40. 2002.I argue in this paper two theses. First, I argue that the internal consistency of the argument from evil demands that it take into account some form of EST. Thus, there is no ground for the atheist to chide the theist when the theist appeals to an expanded version of theism. Second, I show that it isprima facie probable that RST does in fact ential EST. I show this by capitalizing on the distinction between what is contained in a concept and what is entailed by a concept. What a term or concept …Read more
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22Deontic Fallacies and the Arguments against Conscientious ObjectionsChristian Bioethics 27 (2): 140-157. 2021.The respect for one’s conscience is rooted in a broader respect for the human person. The conscience represents a person’s ability to identify the values and goods that inform her moral identity. Ignoring or overriding a person’s conscience can lead to significant moral and emotional distress. Refusals to respect a person’s conscientious objection to cases of killing are a source of incisive distress, since judgments that it is impermissible to kill so-and-so are typically held very strongly and…Read more
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21Rethinking Informed Consent in Bioethics by Neil C. Manson and Onora O’NeillThe National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 9 (3): 610-613. 2009.
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19The Dead Donor Rule Is Not Morally SufficientAmerican Journal of Bioethics 23 (2): 57-59. 2023.Nielsen Busch and Mjaaland (2023) argue that controlled donation after cardiac death (cDCD) protocols prescribe the extraction of organs that do not violate the dead donor rule. I argue here that e...
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19St. Ambrose, Euthanasia, and Antisenescence ArgumentsLogos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 17 (2): 39-57. 2014.
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17The Dead Donor Rule and Means-End Reasoning - A Reply to Gardiner and SparrowCambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 21 (1): 134-140. 2012.
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16Because I Said So!Quaestiones Disputatae 7 (2): 31-49. 2017.Most philosophers will grant that on some issues and in some circumstances, we can acquire knowledge from another. But when it comes to moral knowledge, the presumption is on the side of autonomy; we must not rely on others for our moral beliefs. I argue here for the surprising thesis that in some circumstances we must rely on others in order to acquire moral knowledge. I believe that this, or something trivially different, is a position that Leibniz would hold. When woven together, his comments…Read more
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12St. Ambrose, Euthanasia, and Antisenescence ArgumentsLogos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 17 (2): 39-57. 2014.
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8The Fallacy of Relevance and Moral RisksAmerican Journal of Bioethics 22 (8): 80-82. 2022.Paltrow and colleagues focus on the deleterious consequences that could occur if Roe were overturned, including food and housing insecurity, loss of employment, bankruptcy, unjustified arres...
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6Direct Benefit, Equipoise, and Research on the Non-consentingIn Tomas Zima & David N. Weisstub (eds.), Medical Research Ethics: Challenges in the 21st Century, Springer Verlag. pp. 195-213. 2022.Research on human subjects aims to obtain knowledge of vital importance for human health and functioning. Neuroscientific research specifically is understood as oriented towards three goals: the maintenance of neurological health, the treatment of neurological diseases or syndromes, and the enhancement of neurological functioning. Most guidelines or regulations for pediatric research (whether in the U.S. or elsewhere) require that if a research intervention exposes subjects to more than minimal …Read more
Areas of Specialization
Epistemology |
Applied Ethics |
Areas of Interest
Epistemology |
Metaphysics |
Applied Ethics |