Category: Applied Ethics

The problem with Christian ethics is that its ideal of denying material needs ignores the imperative to find a balanced way to live in the natural world.

There are three things that we humans seem to really want to believe in: the existence of God, the soul, and free will.

There are no atheists in foxholes.” Attributed to World War II journalist Ernie Pyle and various other people, this gratingly smug (and of course factually inaccurate) dictum, often addressed to nonbelievers, seems on a practical level to mean something akin to “Sure, go ahead, be an atheist and sneer at religion, as long as you’re …

Brain-machine interface technologies have opened up the possibility that the visually impaired will be able to see by virtue of digital-camera technologies interfacing directly with the visual regions of the cerebral cortex through electrode implants. People paralyzed due to central nervous system damage can look forward to the day when artificial limbs interfacing with motor …

Stem-cell research aimed at regenerating nerve cells in the human brain is moving forward. Researchers have already isolated a particular gene that directs certain stem cells to turn into cerebral cortex cells. These are the cells comprising the outer layer of the cerebrum, the upper part of the brain largely responsible for cognition. Researchers have …

The nations of the world agreed in 1948 that healthcare was an innate right for all human beings. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights passed by the United Nations—and signed by the United States—reads as follows: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of …

That freedom is the matrix That required for the growth of moral values—indeed not merely one value among many but the source of all values—is almost self-evident. It is only where the individual has choice, and its inherent responsibility, that he has occasion to affirm existing values, to contribute to their further growth, and then earn …

Many moons ago I encountered Ayn Rand’s ideas, and one of her more contentious ones dealt with selfishness. Rand believed that one ought to be selfish. Now, this seems an odd notion for a serious person to hold, and Rand was nothing if not serious. Say selfish and people think “cruel,” “thoughtless,” “mean,” “uncaring,” and …