Something about the idea of acting from duty seems cold and uncaring. When taking on a moral point of view, such as forcing ourselves to act from duty, we must divorce ourselves from our subjective feelings and our emotions. In this sense, taking a moral point of view alienates people from themselves, others, and their moral theory. In " Alienation, Consequentialism, and the Demands of Morality...

[I]f a gift-of-life ethic is preferred and policy makers cannot solve the philosophical dispute over emotion in morality, a dispute that divides proponents of altruism and of routine procurement, then policy makers could judge whether the prevailing model of altruism has received a fair and sufficient test. This judgment would flow from an initial endorsement of altruism as a preferred public p...

I wrote an expert ethics opinion for the federal government when the case was before the Quebec Court of Appeal.6 I argued that the ever-increasing ability to manipulate human reproductive material (in pursuit of any number of objectives) raised unique ethical issues warranting federal attention. More precisely, I defended the view that federal legislation was needed “to protect and promote pub...

The U.S. faces a widening gap between the need for, and the supply of, transplantable organs. The waiting list for transplants increased 150% in the past decade; last year, about 6,000 people died awaiting a transplant. This need has rekindled debate about the morality and feasibility of using incentives to encourage posthumous organ donation. This Issue Brief explores attitudes of the public a...

In an attempt to clarify which requirements of morality are logically primary to the ethics of health care, two questions are examined: is there sufficient common ground among the medical, nursing, paramedical, chaplaincy, and social work professions to justify looking for ethical principles common to health care? Do sufficient logical grounds or consensus among health workers and the public ...

A policy of "preventive detention" has recently been debated in the British Parliament. Alarmed by the high-profile criminal activities of people suspected of having dangerous severe personality disorder (DSPD), the government have made clear their intention to "indeterminately but reviewably detain" people with DSPD, after diagnosis by forensic psychiatrists, even if the individuals are yet to...