Evidence, Ethics & Social Policy Dilemmas

Old ethics: new dilemmas.

MEDICAL ethics may be described as a code of behaviour accepted voluntarily by the profession, as opposed to statutes and regulations imposed by official legislation. In many instances these are synonymous; for example, ethical matters constituting "infamous conduct" have for over a century been guarded by an official body, the General Medical Council. Numerous aspects of medical practice still...

Health promotion: ethical and social dilemmas of government policy.

Communication, commitment, and deception in social dilemmas: experimental evidence

Social norms of cooperation are studied under several forms of communication. In an experiment, strangers could make public statements before playing a prisoner’s dilemma. The interaction was repeated indefinitely, which generated multiple equilibria. Communication could be used as a tool to either signal intentions to coordinate on Pareto-superior outcomes, to deceive others, or to credibly co...

Ethics in anthropology: dilemmas and conundrums.

This paper is a call for awareness and continual examination of the multifaceted nature of ethics and closely related ideas as they relate to anthropology. At the very least, the lack of common understanding of these ideas has been and continues to be a pressing prblem for all who practice anthropology. In this vein, abbreviated etymologies of these critical concepts are put forth as prologue t...

Dilemmas, ethics and intent--a commentary.

Responding to a preceding article by Michael J. Newton ("Moral dilemmas in surgical training: intent and the case for ethical ambiguity"), Downie comments on three of Newton's themes. He agrees that trainees should engage in ethical self-appraisal but cautions that introspection is inappropriate at the time of an operation. Regarding Newton's downplaying of philosophical analysis in medical e...