Philosophy & Ethics

Objective Moral Truth? Thoughts On Carrier’s Take

I’m getting a little tired of writing about the relationship between science and philosophy when it comes to ethics, as I’ve made my views abundantly clear on this blog and elsewhere. Nonetheless, more than one of my readers has exhorted me to take on Rich ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Nov 26 2013 - 8:00am

Unpublished Trial Data Violates An Ethical Obligation To Study Participants

29% of large clinical trials remain unpublished five years after completion and, of those, 78% have no results publicly available, according to a paper published yesterday. This means that an estimated 250,000 people have been exposed to the risks of tria ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 29 2013 - 11:03pm

Are The Ethics Of Informed Consent Different When It Comes To Minorities?

Remarkable improvements in the quality of life, prevention and treatment of disease have been made possible through advancements in biomedical research, including clinical trials involving human subjects. ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 6 2013 - 10:00am

Debate: Mandatory Flu Vaccinations For Health Care Workers

When the Supreme Court was debating the legal foundation of the Affordable Care Act in the United States, Justice Antonin Scalia challenged the Obama administration claim that the controversial individual mandate provision was Constitutionally legitimate, ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 14 2013 - 1:58pm

Liverpool Care Pathway: A Flawed Death Plan Or A Scapegoat?

After a series of media stories about the Liverpool Care Pathway being systematic malnutrition, dehydration and premature death in patients across a wide age-range, it was subjected to review by a panel which delivered their findings on 15 July 2013 sayin ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 17 2013 - 8:30am

A Deadly Proof Is Published But Is Your Mind Stable Enough To Read It?

“Should I kill myself? May the artificial intelligence (AI), which humankind will depend on, ponder such questions, decide rationally, and drag us with it in a mercy killing?” ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - Dec 21 2013 - 12:45pm

The Pseudoscience Black Hole

As I’ve mentioned on other occasions, my most recent effort in philosophy of science actually concerns what my collaborator Maarten Boudry and I call the philosophy of pseudoscience. During a recent discussion we had with some of the contributors to our bo ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Dec 23 2013 - 5:52pm

The Dark Side Of The Enlightenment

People who identify with the various versions of the skeptic / atheist / rationalist / freethinking movement(s) hold up the Enlightenment, the famous “Age of Reason,” to be the pinnacle of human civilization, as well as a model for future progress. ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Dec 30 2013 - 7:00am

Is There Such A Thing As Moral Expertise?

Is there such a thing as moral expertise? Good question, right? I’ve been thinking more about it for a few weeks now as a result of an interesting talk by Gopal Sreenivasan (Duke University) entitled “Moral expertise and the proto-authority of affect,” whi ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Jan 6 2014 - 6:30am

Medical Students Still Concerned About Desensitization To Dying Patients

The imminent death of a family member is riddled with emotions for family family members. The reasons are obvious.  But it's not just them.  ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 31 2013 - 2:23pm