“Do Fetuses Feel Pain?”

Tom Bartlett discusses the issue in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

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Harvard Bioethics Conference

The Harvard University Program in Ethics and Health invites you to attend the Sixth Annual International Bioethics Conference

New Strategies for Health Promotion: Steering Clear of Ethical Pitfalls

Thursday and Friday, April 28 and 29, 2011

Location:  The Inn at Longwood Medical, 342 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA

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Abortion And Baby Murder: Empty and Inflammatory?

Today, I heard a professor talk about the use of emotionally persuasive terms in abortion dialogue. He said to use the term baby for a 4 week old piece of tissue, and to call an abortion murder was absurd and inflammatory. These terms definitely obscure debate, but are they simply inflammatory terms? Though I was conflicted, I don’t believe this is the case.

Consider the fact that to many Christians there is a something called murder, as assured by a belief that there is such a thing as an objective moral truth, a truth firmly embedded in God, a real being. For them, God has deeply etched morality into the universe, making it real. For them, when you kill a human being, you have done an action that has a real existence as murder.

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NUBC 2011

From the National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference:

The 2011 National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference hosted at Duke University, March 18-20, 2011 is right around the corner. We hope you are considering coming to hear the great speakers and meet students from all over the country who are interested in bioethics!  We are covering a broad range of bioethical issues personalized medicine and genomics and in global health.  We are excited to have recently received so many great abstracts for student presentations and have just posted the ones we accepted on our website.

There is still time to sign up to as a team to participate in the Bioethics Bowl. Deadline is February 18.

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Killing a Vegan: Degrees of Subjectivity

Have you ever Stepped on a nail and not felt it–then: Pain Strikes you. You’ve been standing on the nail for a minute, but because you had your mind focused on the hottie walking by, you didn’t notice it. This is revealing. It reveals that pain (the phenomenological pain) is a process of higher order functions. The “I” becomes aware of the of the pain and then it becomes “I-pain”. In psychology, there is a distinction between aversive reactions and physiological response to a stimuli and the phenomenological pain response to a stimuli. Aversive reactions can take place without pain, but are many times accompanied by pain—emotional or physical, which are processed in the same area of the brain (see last months Scientific American). Now, humans and higher order animals can feel pain, but lower order animals may not feel phenomenological pain because they don’t have the “I” concept or the ability the higher order brain functions to process suffering as anything more than a stimuli and response. When we talk about ethics with animals, we should consider degrees of suffering.

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Internship Opportunities

The Hastings Center

offers an intern program that provides undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to work at The Hastings Center, either on a particular project or project-in-development or in a particular Hastings Center department such as Library, Editorial, or Development.

For summer internships (May – August), applications should be received before March 1st. At all other times, prospective interns should apply at least 4 weeks before they would anticipate beginning the internship.

E-mail: mail@thehastingscenter.org
Web Site: http://www.thehastingscenter.org/About/Default.aspx?id=1142

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What is a Mental Disorder?

This is an interesting piece that highlights, among other things, the role of political ideology in shaping the public understanding of ‘disease’, ‘disorder’, and ‘science’.

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“Bioethics: More Personal or More Global?”

Here is an updated announcement from the coordinators of the National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference:

Join us for an exploration of current controversies in bioethics related to this year’s theme, “Bioethics: More Personal or More Global?” at the 2011 National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference hosted at Duke University, March 18-20, 2011. It will bring together leaders in bioethics and students from across the nation to address a broad range of bioethical issues in personal genomics and global health.

The conference offers opportunities for students to submit a paper or participate in the Bioethics Bowl. Deadline for submission of abstracts is January 17. Deadline to sign up as a team for the Bioethics Bowl is February 18.

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NUBC 2011

From the Duke University Undergraduate Bioethics Society:

Join us for an exploration of current controversies in bioethics related to this year’s theme, “Bioethics: More Personal or More Global?” at the 2011 National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference hosted at Duke University, March 18-20, 2011. It will address a broad range of bioethical issues, from personal genomics to global health.

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Kitcher at UWO

Phillip Kitcher was here a few weeks ago and gave two talks on the intersections of science, society, freedom, and democracy. I thought that some of you might like to watch and discuss what was said. Below are the videos:

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Markets in Organs

It should be very clear by this stage of human historical development that many of our contemporary problems are best addressed by markets rather than by governments. Indeed, one could argue that the only manner in which resources are allocated in a rational means is only achievable by market forces, not arbitrary government figures. When markets are allowed to function, great social progress is more often than not reached. Perhaps given these sets of facts it becomes all the more puzzling as to the outright banishment of certain markets. This blog post will center on the banned market for organ sales, specifically kidney sales.

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Using Magnets to Change Moral Judgments

Via NPR:

Scientists have found a surprising link between magnets and morality. A person’s moral judgments can be changed almost instantly by delivering a magnetic pulse to an area of the brain near the right ear, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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More on fMRI’s: A Psychopath’s Brain

There’s an interesting couple of posts over at Psych Central about using fMRI techonology to image the brains of psychopaths. Such techonology, if available, brings up interesting questions all around. One ethical question is one that has already been explored in science fiction–if we are able to tell who is (potentially) a psychopath and capable of horrendous behavior, what should we do? Curtail deviant behavior? Let it happen? What about the rights of the patient/participant in a study?

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CFP: Bioethics Conference

From the National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference:

We are emailing to request undergraduate presentation proposals for the 2010 National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference. Submit your abstract now because the deadline for submissions is January 25th!

Interested students can find the presentation proposal form on our website at www.nubc2010.org/submissions.html.

The 2010 NUBC will be held March 26th-27th and will focus on this year’s theme, “Bioethics in Obama’s America.” The conference will be held at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA and will be the first time the annual conference will take place on the West Coast.

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Study Philosophy Abroad

[MOVING TO THE FRONT FROM DEC. 21, 2009]

… with Dr. Alissa Hurwitz Swota (UNF), May 17 – 28, 2010.

About the Program: This Study Abroad experience is aimed at philosophy majors and those planning to pursue a career in health professions. The objective is to provide students with concrete experience of the ethical values involved and how they are addressed in the everyday practice of health care delivery.

In particular, students will reflect on how various moral quandaries involved in decisions regarding the allocation of scarce health care resources are addressed at present and how they could be better addressed in the future.

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Health Care and Letting Die

[ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE: The issue at hand in this post is whether people have positive rights. Please focus comments on that issue.]

The following exchange developed here. Since the issue deserves attention in and of itself, here it is, beginning with a proposed answer to the question “Should we let a cancer patient die just because s/he is poor?”

AARON: The answer is yes.

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“One Nation, Uninsured: The Ethics of National Health Insurance Coverage”

Here is the abstract for Kenneth Brummel-Smith ‘s plenary session at this Saturday’s conference:

The concept of universal health insurance coverage is vastly popular. The big question is what system should be used to achieve it – private, employer-based coverage, a public-private mixture, or a single payer system. Most of the debate about the choices is framed in economic and medical quality terms. But the subject of the justice of health insurance is rarely discussed. This presentation will address the ethical foundation of achieving universal coverage through a single payer national health insurance program.

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“Reckless Justice: Some of the Follies of National Health Insurance”

Here is the abstract for Tristram Engelhardt ‘s plenary session at this Saturday’s conference:

All over the world, national health insurance systems are in crisis. Because they face the challenges of the moral hazard (people using all benefits to which they are entitled, even when the use is minimally beneficial), the political hazard (politicians promising benefits they know or should have known are difficult to fund), and the demographic hazard (the ever-decreasing percentage of healthy workers available to support the health care of those who are sick, old, or disabled), the quality of the care provided is decreasing, although this is generally not honestly and forthrightly acknowledged. A sustainable health care system that honestly confronts its limits will need to come to terms with the constraints of finitude.

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CFP: Practical and Professional Ethics

The Association for Practical and Professional Ethics invites submissions from students for its 19th Annual Meeting (March 4-7, 2010):

Submissions are invited on ethical issues in various fields (e.g., public administration, law, the environment, accounting, engineering, computer science, research ethics, business, medicine, health care, journalism, higher education) and on issues that cut across professions. Special consideration will be given to topics that deal with ethical issues which cut across at least two disciplines or professions and are co-authored by persons from different disciplines.

The undergraduate submission deadline is October 30, 2009. The CFP and other details are available here.

For those interested, previous CFP announcements for other upcoming conferences are available here, here and here.

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Call for Papers: “Spirituality in Action: Bringing Transpersonal Psychology to a World in Crisis”

I though this might be relevant for those working on Environmental Ethics, Philosophy of Religion, and/or Moral Psychology. Best of Luck!

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H.M. Dies at 82

A famous participant in neuroscience research, H.M., died last week. NYT reports:

In 1953, he underwent an experimental brain operation in Hartford to correct a seizure disorder, only to emerge from it fundamentally and irreparably changed. He developed a syndrome neurologists call profound amnesia. He had lost the ability to form new memories.

For the next 55 years, each time he met a friend, each time he ate a meal, each time he walked in the woods, it was as if for the first time.

And for those five decades, he was recognized as the most important patient in the history of brain science. As a participant in hundreds of studies, he helped scientists understand the biology of learning, memory and physical dexterity, as well as the fragile nature of human identity. [...]

From the age of 27, when he embarked on a life as an object of intensive study, he lived with his parents, then with a relative and finally in an institution. His amnesia did not damage his intellect or radically change his personality. But he could not hold a job and lived, more so than any mystic, in the moment.

“Say it however you want,” said Dr. Thomas Carew, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Irvine, and president of the Society for Neuroscience. “What H. M. lost, we now know, was a critical part of his identity.”

(HT: Neuroethics & Law Blog)

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Bioethics Conference

The 11th Annual National Undergraduate Bioethics Conference
“Bioethics: The New Issues”
at Harvard University
March 13-14, 2009
Presented by the Harvard Undergraduate Bioethics Society

Are you interested in hearing Peter Singer, Steven Hyman, Jim Kim, or Leon Eisenberg speak?

Would you like to attend panel discussions on Neuroethics, Organ Markets, Medical Ethics and Reproductive Technology with experts in the field? Would you like to participate in small group seminars with some of the biggest names in bioethics?

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Cognitive Disability: A Challenge to Moral Philosophy

It’s a flurry of podcasts! Here’s information about the conference these podcasts come from:

“Cognitive Disability: A Challenge to Moral Philosophy” will explore philosophical questions about three specific populations — people with autism, Alzheimer’s disease, and those labeled “mentally retarded.” We will raise ethical and foundational questions regarding both theoretical and practical matters. The areas to be explored include:

Personhood: Should individuals with cognitive disabilities be excluded from the protections and responsibilities we assign to “persons”? Do the implications of such exclusion force a reconsideration of the concept of personhood?

Justice: Should individuals with cognitive disabilities be excluded from the claims and protections granted to members of a political community? If not, how might their interests be represented and given a political voice?

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A Brief Guide to the Hippocratic Oath

Here’s an interesting BBC article by medical ethicist Daniel Sokol that gives a brief guide to the Hippocratic Oath.

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Pediatric Bioethics Conference

Friday, October 11- Saturday, October 11th, 2008
Jacksonville, FL

Presented by the Wolfson Children Hospital with the University of North Florida and the Florida Bioethics Network. Also, you can expect to see two of our very own UNF professors: Dr. Alissa Swota and Dr. Julie Ingersoll!

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