Publication of The WHO Policy Brief on Covid-19 and Mandatory Vaccination: Ethical Considerations and Caveats

by Anthony Skelton Ending the pandemic will require mass vaccination for COVID-19. But will it be achieved simply by leaving vaccination to the voluntary choice of individuals? If not, is it permissible for institutions or states to mandate vaccination for COVID-19? It is not uncommon for institutions or the state to mandate public health measures [...]

Three Postdoctoral Associates in Philosophy Focus on AI

This article, Three Postdoctoral Associates in Philosophy Focus on AI, is reprinted with permission from Western's Faculty of Arts & Humanities. Artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies pose new opportunities and challenges across many domains of our lives. Philosophers are uniquely equipped to address the underlying assumptions and potential conflicts that arise from integrating these [...]

Mandating COVID-19 Vaccination for Children

Written by Lisa Forsberg and Anthony Skelton Mandating COVID-19 vaccination for children is cross-posted from the Practical Ethics blog, of the University of Oxford.  In many countries vaccine rollouts are now well underway. Vaccine programmes in Israel, the United Kingdom, Chile, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and the United States have been particularly successful. Mass vaccination [...]

Should human enhancement be a moral imperative? An interview with Julian Savulescu

by Meghan Winsby Julian Savulescu is Director of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, Professor of Practical Ethics, and Fellow of St Cross College. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Medical Ethics, and the author of over 250 publications, including 2012’s Unfit for the Future: The Need for Moral [...]

2018-04-16T10:24:29-04:00April 16th, 2018|Philosophy of Ethics, Science and Society|

Dead, Or Dead Enough? Ethical Challenges Associated with Providing Life-Sustaining Treatment after ‘Neurological Death.’

by Mackenzie Graham, Ph.D The recent case of a Brampton woman declared ‘brain dead’ by physicians —but whose family maintains that she is still alive— presents a number of challenging ethical issues, including how we define ‘death’, and the duty of care between patients and physicians. Taquisha McKitty was admitted to a Brampton hospital on [...]

2017-10-24T10:55:59-04:00October 24th, 2017|Biomedical Ethics, Philosophy of Ethics|

Photos & Videos from Responsible Robotics Events

We are very pleased to share the following photos and videos taken during the event series on responsible robotics and robot ethics we hosted last month. Please note that additional photos from these events can be seen on the Rotman Institute Flickr account. Thank you to Philippos Papayannopoulos for taking these wonderful photos! Panel Discussion: [...]

2017-04-05T10:10:12-04:00April 4th, 2017|Events, Philosophy of Ethics, Science and Society|

Reflections from the Social Impact of Medicalizing Psychiatry Workshop

by Catherine Stinson A few weeks have passed since the conference I co-organized with Derek Oswick, Veromi Arsiradam, Carolyn McLeod and Jackie Sullivan on The Social Impact of Medicalizing Psychiatry, but the messages are still resonating loudly for me, and for several other participants I’ve heard from. I’d like to take a moment to reflect [...]

Gilmore Girls’ Disappointing Take on Commercial Surrogacy (warning: this post contains spoilers)

Many fans of the Gilmore Girls were unhappy at how the show’s revival handled the storyline of the abrasive yet lovable Paris Geller. While I too agree that Paris deserves a happier ending, my dismay about her personal life was largely overshadowed by my dismay at how the show portrayed her career in commercial surrogacy [...]

Putting Environmental Philosophy to Work: Interview with Justin Donhauser

Justin Donhauser joined the Rotman Institute as postdoctoral fellow this fall. He specializes in socially-relevant philosophy of science — focusing on clarifying how model-based ecological and climate-science methods can aid in political, ethical, and resource management decisions. Justin trained as a PhD fellow of the National Science Foundation endowed Ecosystem Restoration through Interdisciplinary Exchange (ERIE-IGERT) [...]

Navigating ethical dilemmas in healthcare: Interview with Kyoko Wada

by Cory E. Goldstein and Austin R. Horn Kyoko Wada joined the Rotman Institue this year as a postdoctoral fellow. She is a trained anesthesiologist with an MA in bioethics from Monash University, Australia and a PhD from Western University. She completed a bioethics research fellowship in the Departments of Psychiatry and Anesthesia & Perioperative [...]

Go to Top