Practical Ethics

Refusing Cochlear Implants: Is It Child Neglect?

2009-07-13T17:00:27+01:00

Australian Graeme Clark developed the cochlear implant, or bionic ear, in the 1970s. It does not amplify sound but directly stimulates any functioning auditory nerves in the inner ear. The Australian Government has promised a screening program of all babies...

Hunger for long life: the ethics of caloric restriction experiments

2009-07-11T08:26:59+01:00

This has been a good week for life extension research, with the Nature paper Rapamycin fed late in life extends lifespan in genetically heterogeneous mice by Harrison et al. (free News and Views) showing that the drug boosts lifespan in...

Is it Worth Living Longer?

2009-07-10T09:36:19+01:00

Research recently published in Nature suggests that the drug rapamycin may have the potential to extend human life span by decades: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8139816.stm If the life is of ‘positive’ value, it might seem obvious that the drug is worth taking. But...

Informed consent in the Googlesphere

2009-07-09T12:48:37+01:00

Here's an interesting snippet But there's also the fact that Google is stuffed full of people who just love to experiment on its users. For instance, Google Mail uses a very slightly different blue for links than the main search...

Oxford Debates Cont'd - Opposer's Closing Statement

2009-07-09T12:35:54+01:00

Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness" Opposer: Charles Foster Closing Statement The criterion 'self-inflicted' is unworkable in practice. One simply does not know in many cases whether a particular disease or injury is self-inflicted. Yes,...

Oxford Debates Cont'd - Proposer's Closing Statement

2009-07-09T12:34:05+01:00

Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness" Proposer: Dr Mark Sheehan Closing Statement What is most difficult about topics such as this one is that there are clear intuitions on both sides. These intuitions pull against...

Oxford Debates Cont'd - Opposer's update 2

2009-07-08T09:59:40+01:00

Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted illness" Opposer: Charles Foster Update 2 Dr. Sheehan has fairly and inevitably surrendered. The motion as it stands is wholly unarguable. But he contends that there are still important matters...

Who defines a Jew?

2009-07-07T11:31:19+01:00

by David Edmonds Here are some of the relevant facts about a landmark legal ruling last week – involving a dispute that illustrates an irresolvable tension within multi-culturalism. JFS is a Jewish ‘faith school’ in North London. It achieves impressive...

‘But it will happen anyway’

2009-07-02T11:15:03+01:00

When the ethical implication of some scientific or technological advance are debated, it is common for someone to remark that it’s a waste of time to debate whether this technology should be pursued—it will be developed anyway, won’t it, and...

Oxford Debates Cont'd - Proposer's update 2

2009-07-02T09:54:44+01:00

Part of the debate "The NHS should not treat self-inflicted injuries" Proposer: Dr Mark Sheehan Update 2 As Foster suggests we must be clear about the motion. So what might it mean to 'not treat self-inflicted illness'? If it means...