Philosophy & Ethics

Don't make it hard for me, I won't make it hard for you: A Hidden Principle Exposed

A lot of principles in teaching and learning are taught, tested, re-proven to work, and eventually found their applications. However, there are those that exist but are better left unsaid. Examples of Some Principles that are are taught: In Chemistry " ...

Blog Post - Camilo Tabinas - Apr 21 2014 - 7:31am

3-Person IVF: Eugenics Or Choice Is Stirring The Simmering 'Designer Baby' Pot

Why is deciding to abort a baby a legitimate ethical choice but choosing to have a boy is not? Some groups see the ethical issues in both but some only see the ethical issues in one. It shows that ethics is rife with subjective beliefs and rationalization ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 16 2014 - 5:43pm

Conflict Of Interest: Leaders Of Academic Medical Centers Serving On Pharmaceutical Boards

Can you buy ethics? Are scientists simply paid guns producing research for anyone that writes a check? It's certainly a common cultural belief. Skeptics about global warming think that academics cozy up to politicians and apply for grants related to w ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 1 2014 - 7:00pm

What Does It Mean For Something To Be Metaphysically Necessary?

I mentioned before, this semester I’m teaching a graduate level seminar on David Hume, and having lots of fun with it. During a recent discussion of sections 4 and 5 of the Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (“Sceptical doubts concerning the operations ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Apr 2 2014 - 1:13am

Ethics: Deciding Health Standards For Extended Spaceflights

In modern NASA culture, extended spaceflight might as well be science fiction. The no-risk requirement coupled with volumes of employment criteria, rules and regulations were why the Constellation program was going to take far longer to go back to the moo ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 3 2014 - 12:23pm

The Dead Mouse Argument

The Dead Mouse Argument By whatever choice of words it is often argued that because one thing leads to another, adverse consequences must inevitably follow if the opponent's proposed course of action is taken. By whatever choice of words, the above p ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Apr 25 2014 - 9:24pm

Climate Negotiations- Forget Conferences, Top Countries And Side Agreements Are The Way To Get It Done

For more than two decades, members of the United Nations have sought to forge an agreement to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, but international climate negotiations have had limited success. ...

Article - News Staff - May 12 2014 - 1:55pm

Neil Tyson And The Value Of Philosophy

Reprinted from Scientia Salon. You can read the original here. It seems like my friend Neil deGrasse Tyson [1] has done it again: he has dismissed philosophy as a useless enterprise, and actually advised bright students to stay away from it. It is not the ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - May 17 2014 - 9:20am

Liverpool Care Pathway Death Panels Were 'Too Extreme'- But So Are Ending Them

The decision to jettison the controversial approach to dying known as the Liverpool Care Pathway was "too extreme" given that its principles were considered by proponents as the best examples of palliative care in the world, argues a senior ethi ...

Article - News Staff - May 21 2014 - 11:00pm

Terminally Ill Physicians Would Choose Do Not Resuscitate- For Themselves, Not For You

Most physicians would choose a do-not-resuscitate or "no code" status for themselves when they are terminally ill, yet they tend to pursue aggressive, life-prolonging treatment for patients facing the same prognosis. Hypocritical? No, Hippocrati ...

Article - News Staff - May 28 2014 - 6:00pm