Ethics
Nancy Cartwright: Wiser Use of Social Science, Wiser Wishes, Wiser Policies
ABSTRACT In Dr. Cartwright’s lecture, Wiser Use of Social Science, Wiser Wishes, Wiser Policies, she considers the rhetoric of blame and accountability with regards to social issues such as protection of children from domestic abuse. Amidst calls for best practice, and the insistence on implementing only policies that work, Cartwright questions whether policies that ‘work’ [...]
Michael Parker: Moral Craft in the Genetics Clinic and Laboratory
ABSTRACT Dr. Parker’s talk will explore the moral world of the contemporary genetics profession at a key moment in its development. In particular, the talk will focus on the relationships between the well-established and reasonably stable moral commitments underpinning ideas of ‘good practice’ in contemporary clinical genetics –- such as those to the care of [...]
Lainie Ross: Deceased Donor Kidney Allocation: Equity, Efficiency and Unintended Consequences
ABSTRACT In her talk, Ross describes three ways that kidney donations are allocated to those in need of a kidney transplant, including the Equal Opportunity Supplemented by Fair Innings (EOFI) method. She will discuss the conceptions of efficiency and equity that are employed by each model, and evaluate whether EOFI could conform to the National [...]
Jonathan Kimmelman: Anatomy of Clinical Translation: Ethics, Epistemology, and Policy
ABSTRACT The clinical translation process is widely viewed as plagued by inefficiency, error, and delay. However, such views- and the research reforms aimed at correcting these deficiencies- draw on a problematic understanding of the nature of clinical translation (the “pipeline model”). In what follows, I use the recently translated cancer drug sunitinib to illustrate an [...]
Joel Lexchin: Those Who Have the Gold Make the Evidence: The Pharmaceutical Industry and Clinical Trials
Room 1145 - Stevenson Hall Stevenson Hall, Room 1145, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT Pharmaceutical companies fund the bulk of clinical research and this funding can introduce biases into the research through methods such as influencing the choice of standards of comparison, only publishing positive trials, reinterpreting data submitted to regulatory agencies, ghostwriting, and the use of “seeding” trials. There is no evidence that any of the measures [...]
Sarah Hannan: Why Parental Interests Cannot Justify Unlimited Procreation
Room 1145 - Stevenson Hall Stevenson Hall, Room 1145, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT Many people believe that procreation is permissible in light of the powerful interest would-be parents have in rearing children. This paper challenges that assumption, and progresses in three sections. First, I argue that childhood is bad for children in many significant ways. Second, I suggest that the badness of childhood poses a challenge for [...]
Peter Singer: The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically
Great Hall - Somerville House Somerville House, Western University, London, Ontario, CanadaABSTRACT Effective altruism is built upon the simple but profound idea that living a fully ethical life involves doing the "most good you can do." Such a life requires an unsentimental view of charitable giving: to be a worthy recipient of our support, an organization must be able to demonstrate that it will do more [...]