We regularly tell strangers about sensitive aspects of our lives. We do it every time we visit the doctor. We do it without hesitating, in spite of the fact that the information won’t stay with the doctor to whom we give it. The information is archived and will be read by health care staff in […]
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What fuels the tendency to view genetic information as exceptionally private and sensitive? Is information about an individual’s genetic disposition for eye color more sensitive than the fact that he has blue eyes? In Rethinking Informed Consent in Bioethics, Neil C. Manson and Onora O’Neill make heroic efforts against an avalanche of arguments for genetic […]
Continue readingIt is easy to be wise after the event. This easily accessible form of wisdom is also a painful accusation: you should have been wise before the event. If you are extremely sensitive to the pain of these attacks, you might want to become someone who always is “wise before the event.” If you let […]
Continue readingSomeone asked me what philosophy is. I answered by trying to pinpoint the most frequently used word when one philosophizes. What does a philosopher most often say? I believe he or she most often says, “But…”: “But is that really true?” “But shouldn’t then…?” “But can’t one imagine that…?” “But how can anyone know such […]
Continue readingThe Ethics Blog recommends three important conferences this autumn: 1. Genomics for Healthcare and Socio-Economic Progress This conference is organized by the Wales Gene Park. It discusses the economic potential of genomics in, for example, healthcare, agriculture and bio-energy. When? 13-14 September 2012 Where? Radisson Blu Hotel, Cardiff Website? Here 2. HandsOn: Biobanks This interactive conference […]
Continue readingOur long childhood and dependence on parental care seem to leave no doubt about it: we are not born as humans, we become human. I want to highlight a particularly tempting metaphor for this process of “becoming human” – the metaphor of: “Order out of chaos.” According to this metaphor, human infancy is abundantly rich […]
Continue readingI’m reading a Scientific American Guest Blog, on the ethics of future-use DNA sampling. Donating DNA to research is described as a more lasting donation than donating organs or embryos: DNA is information and information can last longer. That donating DNA is such a lasting donation seems to imply that the future use to which […]
Continue readingA child begins to speak; to say that it is hungry, or does not want to sleep. Where was the child’s language hiding before it began to speak? Did the child invent it? Certainly not, experts on language development would insist. A child cannot create language. Language exists before the child starts to speak. All […]
Continue readingOur plans for the interactive part of the conference program for HandsOn: Biobanks, in Uppsala 20-21 September 2012, are taking shape. This part of the program is called “the Route.” During coffee and lunch breaks, participants can walk through an interactive exhibition illustrating the process of informed consent, data and sample sharing, and new legislation. Within the […]
Continue readingA certain form of ethical thinking would like to draw absolute limits to human activity. The limits are often said to be natural: nature is replacing God as ultimate moral authority. Nature is what we believe we still can believe in, when we no longer believe in God. God thus moves into the human embryo. […]
Continue readingTHE ETHICS BLOG
A research blog from the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics (CRB)
We write for researchers, healthcare staff, officials, politicians, patient organisations and anyone interested in ethics.
We comment on the research ethics and bioethics debate and discuss our own research. We address issues from current debates in the research community and in the press.
MEET THE EDITOR
Pär Segerdahl is editor of the Ethics Blog and Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Centre for Research Ethics & Bioethics.