Susan Dodds and Rachel A. Ankeny eds., 2016 Big Picture Bioethics: Developing Democratic Policy i... more Susan Dodds and Rachel A. Ankeny eds., 2016 Big Picture Bioethics: Developing Democratic Policy in Contested Domains. Springer Publishing Switzerland.
This book addresses the problem of how to make democratically-legitimate public policy on issues of contentious bioethical debate. It focuses on ethical contests about research and their legitimate resolution, while addressing questions of political legitimacy. How should states make public policy on issues where there is ethical disagreement, not only about appropriate outcomes, but even what values are at stake? What constitutes justified, democratic policy in such conflicted domains? Case studies from Canada and Australia demonstrate that two countries sharing historical and institutional characteristics can reach different policy responses.
This book is of interest to policymakers, bioethicists, and philosophers, and will deepen our understanding of the interactions between large-scale socio-political forces and detailed policy problems in bioethics.
This volume breaks new ground by investigating the ethics of vulnerability. Vulnerability is a c... more This volume breaks new ground by investigating the ethics of vulnerability. Vulnerability is a central feature of human existence. Although its normative significance is recognized in moral theory and in bioethics, there has been little systematic analysis of the concept of vulnerability. The aim of this volume is to open up reflection on the nature of vulnerability, the responsibilities owed to the vulnerable, who bears these responsibilities, and how they are best fulfilled. In canvassing responses to these questions, the contributors engage with a range of ethical traditions and with issues in contemporary political philosophy and bioethics. Some essays in the volume explore the connections between vulnerability, autonomy, dignity, and justice. Other essays engage with a feminist ethics of care to articulate the relationship between vulnerability, dependence and care. These theoretical approaches are complemented by detailed examination of vulnerability in specific contexts, including disability; responsibilities to children; intergenerational justice; and care of the elderly. The essays thus address fundamental questions concerning our moral duties to each other as individuals and as citizens. This volume contributes significantly to the development of an ethics of vulnerability and opens up promising avenues for future research in feminist philosophy, moral and political philosophy, and bioethics.
Keywords: vulnerability, ethics, moral theory, bioethics, feminist philosophy, autonomy, dependence, justice, ethics of care, children
Gordon G Wallace, Rhys C Cornock, Cathal D O’Connell, Stephen Beirne, Susan Dodds, Frederic Gilbe... more Gordon G Wallace, Rhys C Cornock, Cathal D O’Connell, Stephen Beirne, Susan Dodds, Frederic Gilbert, (Mats Bjorkland, animations) 2014 ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, ISBN 9780646928678
ABSTRACT In establishing National Bioethics Organisations (NBOs), liberal democracies seek to ack... more ABSTRACT In establishing National Bioethics Organisations (NBOs), liberal democracies seek to acknowledge the diversity of strongly held ethical positions and the imperative to engage in public debate about important bioethical decisions. NBOs are typically given a range of responsibilities, including contributing to and stimulating public debate; providing expert opinion on relevant issues for policy deliberations; and developing public policy. The state is now found to have an interest in areas previously thought to be a matter of individual choice. NBOs can provide one way of opening up public debate to allow the diversity of views to be heard in a manner that is well-informed, articulate and responsive to both expert and ‘lay’ public views. We draw on debates in political theory about democratic decision-making and on the policy making roles of some key NBOs. We are particularly interested in examining the capacity of NBOs to meet the democratic ideal of effective participation by the public, or citizenry, especially by those who are directly affected by the policies, in the development of effective public policy. We provide a basic framework for policy development involving NBOs that can begin to meet this ideal, a process of ‘contested deliberation’.
Susan Dodds and Rachel A. Ankeny eds., 2016 Big Picture Bioethics: Developing Democratic Policy i... more Susan Dodds and Rachel A. Ankeny eds., 2016 Big Picture Bioethics: Developing Democratic Policy in Contested Domains. Springer Publishing Switzerland.
This book addresses the problem of how to make democratically-legitimate public policy on issues of contentious bioethical debate. It focuses on ethical contests about research and their legitimate resolution, while addressing questions of political legitimacy. How should states make public policy on issues where there is ethical disagreement, not only about appropriate outcomes, but even what values are at stake? What constitutes justified, democratic policy in such conflicted domains? Case studies from Canada and Australia demonstrate that two countries sharing historical and institutional characteristics can reach different policy responses.
This book is of interest to policymakers, bioethicists, and philosophers, and will deepen our understanding of the interactions between large-scale socio-political forces and detailed policy problems in bioethics.
This volume breaks new ground by investigating the ethics of vulnerability. Vulnerability is a c... more This volume breaks new ground by investigating the ethics of vulnerability. Vulnerability is a central feature of human existence. Although its normative significance is recognized in moral theory and in bioethics, there has been little systematic analysis of the concept of vulnerability. The aim of this volume is to open up reflection on the nature of vulnerability, the responsibilities owed to the vulnerable, who bears these responsibilities, and how they are best fulfilled. In canvassing responses to these questions, the contributors engage with a range of ethical traditions and with issues in contemporary political philosophy and bioethics. Some essays in the volume explore the connections between vulnerability, autonomy, dignity, and justice. Other essays engage with a feminist ethics of care to articulate the relationship between vulnerability, dependence and care. These theoretical approaches are complemented by detailed examination of vulnerability in specific contexts, including disability; responsibilities to children; intergenerational justice; and care of the elderly. The essays thus address fundamental questions concerning our moral duties to each other as individuals and as citizens. This volume contributes significantly to the development of an ethics of vulnerability and opens up promising avenues for future research in feminist philosophy, moral and political philosophy, and bioethics.
Keywords: vulnerability, ethics, moral theory, bioethics, feminist philosophy, autonomy, dependence, justice, ethics of care, children
Gordon G Wallace, Rhys C Cornock, Cathal D O’Connell, Stephen Beirne, Susan Dodds, Frederic Gilbe... more Gordon G Wallace, Rhys C Cornock, Cathal D O’Connell, Stephen Beirne, Susan Dodds, Frederic Gilbert, (Mats Bjorkland, animations) 2014 ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, ISBN 9780646928678
ABSTRACT In establishing National Bioethics Organisations (NBOs), liberal democracies seek to ack... more ABSTRACT In establishing National Bioethics Organisations (NBOs), liberal democracies seek to acknowledge the diversity of strongly held ethical positions and the imperative to engage in public debate about important bioethical decisions. NBOs are typically given a range of responsibilities, including contributing to and stimulating public debate; providing expert opinion on relevant issues for policy deliberations; and developing public policy. The state is now found to have an interest in areas previously thought to be a matter of individual choice. NBOs can provide one way of opening up public debate to allow the diversity of views to be heard in a manner that is well-informed, articulate and responsive to both expert and ‘lay’ public views. We draw on debates in political theory about democratic decision-making and on the policy making roles of some key NBOs. We are particularly interested in examining the capacity of NBOs to meet the democratic ideal of effective participation by the public, or citizenry, especially by those who are directly affected by the policies, in the development of effective public policy. We provide a basic framework for policy development involving NBOs that can begin to meet this ideal, a process of ‘contested deliberation’.
Support for this project has been provided by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council Ltd, a... more Support for this project has been provided by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council Ltd, an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the ...
In their article published in Nanoethics, “Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects of Brain-Implants Us... more In their article published in Nanoethics, “Ethical, Legal and Social Aspects of Brain-Implants Using Nano-Scale Materials and Techniques”, Berger et al. suggest that there may be a prima facie moral obligation to improve neuro implants with nanotechnology given their possible therapeutic advantages for patients [Nanoethics, 2:241–249]. Although we agree with Berger et al. that developments in nanomedicine hold the potential to render brain implant technologies less invasive and to better target neural stimulation to respond to brain impairments in the near future, we argue against presenting the development of nanobionic clinical devices in terms of a moral obligation to conduct this research. In the first part of the paper, we consider what a duty to pursue new technologies might mean, and in the second we explore some of the negative consequences of defending such development as a moral obligation based on potential benefit. We argue that promoting the advances available to brain implants through developments in nanotechnology and bionics could contribute to medical rhetoric that indirectly increases the risk of exposing patients to harm when participating in clinical trials. We argue that rather than there being a moral obligation to improve nanobionics implants because of their potential benefit, the pursuit of improved neuro implants must be balanced against the prima facie obligations to protect patients against harm and to promote and protect patient autonomy
Concern for human vulnerability seems to be at the heart of bioethical inquiry, but the concept o... more Concern for human vulnerability seems to be at the heart of bioethical inquiry, but the concept of vulnerability is under-theorized in the bioethical literature. The aim of this article is to show why bioethics needs an adequately theorized and nuanced conception of vulnerability. We first review approaches to vulnerability in research ethics and public health ethics, and show that the bioethical literature associates vulnerability with risk of harm and exploitation, and limited capacity for autonomy. We identify some of the challenges emerging from this literature: in particular, how to reconcile universal human vulnerability with a context-sensitive analysis of specific kinds and sources of vulnerability; and how to reconcile obligations to protect vulnerable persons with obligations to respect autonomy. We then briefly survey some of the theoretical resources available within the philosophical literature to address these challenges, and to assist in understanding the conceptual connections between vulnerability and related concepts such as harm, exploitation, needs, and autonomy. We also sketch out a taxonomy of sources and kinds of vulnerability. Finally, we consider the implications for policy evaluation of making vulnerability an explicit and central focus of bioethics. Our investigation is in the form of a broad survey motivating a research agenda rather than a detailed analysis.
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This book addresses the problem of how to make democratically-legitimate public policy on issues of contentious bioethical debate. It focuses on ethical contests about research and their legitimate resolution, while addressing questions of political legitimacy. How should states make public policy on issues where there is ethical disagreement, not only about appropriate outcomes, but even what values are at stake? What constitutes justified, democratic policy in such conflicted domains? Case studies from Canada and Australia demonstrate that two countries sharing historical and institutional characteristics can reach different policy responses.
This book is of interest to policymakers, bioethicists, and philosophers, and will deepen our understanding of the interactions between large-scale socio-political forces and detailed policy problems in bioethics.
Keywords: vulnerability, ethics, moral theory, bioethics, feminist philosophy, autonomy, dependence, justice, ethics of care, children
This book addresses the problem of how to make democratically-legitimate public policy on issues of contentious bioethical debate. It focuses on ethical contests about research and their legitimate resolution, while addressing questions of political legitimacy. How should states make public policy on issues where there is ethical disagreement, not only about appropriate outcomes, but even what values are at stake? What constitutes justified, democratic policy in such conflicted domains? Case studies from Canada and Australia demonstrate that two countries sharing historical and institutional characteristics can reach different policy responses.
This book is of interest to policymakers, bioethicists, and philosophers, and will deepen our understanding of the interactions between large-scale socio-political forces and detailed policy problems in bioethics.
Keywords: vulnerability, ethics, moral theory, bioethics, feminist philosophy, autonomy, dependence, justice, ethics of care, children