Research in Applied Ethics and Moral Philosophy
As one of our three areas of research strength, our work in applied ethics and moral philosophy focuses on several core interconnected aims:
- to illuminate and resolve a range of ethical issues involving health policy and health care, reproduction, genetics, women's rights, animal rights, etc. through the application of moral theories and philosophical analysis from ancient to postmodern and feminist standpoints on ethics
- to analyse through the use of moral theory various issues in law, including connections between law and morality, moral or legal responsibility and mental illness, practical issues such as police practices and accountability, treatment of refugees etc
- to assess the adequacy of mainstream impartialist moral theories in the light of their attempts to accommodate the nature and value of love and friendship, professional roles, and feminist perspectives on ethics
Recent research grants by Monash philosophers and bioethicists in this area include:
Good Soldiers and Ethical Soldiers. Rob Sparrow with Dr Jessica Wolfendale (University of Melbourne) and Professor Tony Coady (University of Melbourne). ARC Discovery Project Grant for 2007-2009 ($440 000).
Victorian Doctors and End of Life Decisions: David Neil. 2004 $10 000 grant from the Voluntary Euthanasia Society of Victoria.
The Normative Value of Unified Agency: Steve Matthews (CSU) and Jeanette Kennett. ARC Discovery Grant 2004-05 ($62,000).
The Structure of Moral Reasoning: Hume, Kant and the Evidence of Psychopathology : Jeanette Kennett and Phil Gerrans (Adelaide). ARC Discovery Grant 2004-06 ($191,000).
Regulation, Risk, and Wrongdoing: Negligence law reform and a natural rights approach to justice: Toby Handfield, Monash Small Grant, 2004.
An ethical analysis of the disclosure of surgeons' performance data to patients within the informed consent process: Justin Oakley and Helga Kuhse NHMRC Project Grant 2003-05 ($140,000).
Friendship, Morality and the Self: Jeanette Kennett and Dean Cocking (CSU). ARC Discovery Grant 2001 ($20,000).
Recent publications by Monash philosophers and bioethicists in this area include:
In 2007:
Jo Asscher, 'Killing and Letting Die: the similarity Criterion', Journal of Applied Philosophy, 24:3 (2007): 271-282.
Linda Barclay, 'Equality respecting nationalism and the relevance of culture', Nations and Nationalism, 13: part 3 (July 2007): 505-521.
Russell Blackford, 'Dr. Frankenstein meets Lord Devlin: Genetic Engineering and the Principle of Intangible Harm', The Monist 89:4 (August 2007): 526-547.
Russell Blackford, 'Differing vulnerabilities: the moral significance of Lockean personhood', American Journal of Bioethics, 7:1 (2007): 70-71.
Russell Blackford, 'Slippery slopes to slippery slopes: therapeutic cloning and the Criminal Law', American Journal of Bioethics 7:2 (2007): 63-64.
Fr. Norman Ford, 'The Moral Significance of the Human Foetus' in Principles of Health Care Ethics, 2nd Ed., (eds.) Richard Ashcroft et al, Chichester UK: John Wiley & Sons (2007): 387-392.
Fr. Norman Ford, 'Patients, Medical Treatment and Christian Ethics: From Persons to Ethics', Australasian Catholic Record, 84:2 (April 2007): 209-222.
Fr. Norman Ford, 'Moral Respect Due to the Human Embryo', Ethics Education 13:1 2007 pp.13-20.Helga Kuhse, David Neil, C. Coady, and J. Thompson, 'End-of-life decisions in medical practice: a survey of doctors in Victoria (Australia)', Journal of Medical Ethics 33 (2007): 721-725.
Justin Oakley and Steve Clarke (eds.), Informed Consent and Clinician Accountability: The Ethics of Report Cards on Surgeon Performance. Cambridge, 2007.
Justin Oakley, 'Patients and Disclosure of Surgical Risk' in Principles of Health Care Ethics, 2nd Ed., (eds.) Richard Ashcroft et al, Chichester UK: John Wiley & Sons (2007): 319-324.
Justin Oakley, 'Virtue Theory' in Principles of Health Care Ethics, 2nd Ed., (eds.) Richard Ashcroft et al, Chichester UK: John Wiley & Sons (2007): 87-91.
Justin Oakley, 'Introduction: Accountability, informed consent and clinician performance information' in Informed Consent and Clinician Accountability: The Ethics of Report Cards on Surgeon Performance, (eds.) Steve Clarke and Justin Oakley, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2007): 1-21.
Justin Oakley, 'An ethical analysis of the defensive surgery objection to individual surgeon report cards' in Informed Consent and Clinician Accountability: The Ethics of Report Cards on Surgeon Performance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2007): 243-254.
Rob Sparrow, '"Barbarians at the Gates": The Moral Costs of Political Community' in Politics and Morality, (ed.) Igor Primoratz, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan (2007): 170-188.
Rob Sparrow, 'Negotiating the nanodivides' in New Global Frontiers in Regulation: The Age of Nanotechnology, (eds.) Graeme Hodge et al, Cheltenham, UK: Edgar Elgar Publishing (2007): 87-107.
Rob Sparrow, 'Killer Robots', Journal of Applied Philosophy 24:1 (February 2007): 62-77
Rob Sparrow, 'Revolutionary and Familiar, Inevitable and Precarious: Rhetorcial Contradictions in Enthusiasm for Nanotechnology', NanoEthics: ethics for technologies that converge 1:1 (2007): 57-68.
Rob Sparrow, 'Procreative Beneficence, Obligation, and Eugenics', Genomics, Society and Policy 3:3 (2007): 43-59.
In 2006:
Jo Asscher, 'The New Racism of Wilderness', Proceedings of the 13th Annual Australasian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics Conference (June 12-14, 2006).
Dirk Baltzly, 'The wrongness of adultery: a neo-Aristotelian approach' in Sex and Ethics: Essays on Sexuality, Virtue and the Good Life, (ed.) Raja Halwani, Palgrave-Macmillan Publishing (2006): 190-201.
Russell Blackford, 'Sinning against Nature: The Theory of Background Conditions', Journal of Medical Ethics 32:11 (Nov. 2006): 629-634.
Russell Blackford, 'Stem cell research on other worlds, or why embryos do not have a right to life', Journal of Medical Ethics, 32 (2006): 177-80.
Jacqueline Broad, Karen Green and Helen Prosser, 'Emasculating Metaphor: Whither the Maleness of Reason?' in Feminist Alliances, (ed.) Lynda Burns, Amsterdam : Rodopi Press (2006): 91-108.
Norman Ford, 'Human pluripotent stem cell research and ethics', Monash Bioethics Review 25:1 (Jan. 2006): 31-41.
Karen Green, 'Parity and procedural justice', Essays in Philosophy 7 (2006).
Jeanette Kennett and Steve Matthews, 'The Moral Goal of Treatment in Cases of Dual Diagnosis' in Intervening in Drug Use: Ethical Challenges, (eds.) John Kleinig and Stanley Einstein, Huntsville, TX: Office of International Criminal Justice (OICJ) Press (2006).
Jeanette Kennett, 'Mental Disorder, Moral Agency and the Self' in The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics (ed.) Bonnie Steinbok, Oxford University Press (forthcoming).
Jeannette Kennett, 'Do psychopaths really threaten moral rationalism?', Philosophical Explorations 9 (2006): 69-82.
Jeanette Kennett and Phil Gerrans, 'Is cognitive penetrability the mark of the moral?', Philosophical Explorations 9 (2006): 3-12.
Justin Oakley, 'Reproductive cloning and arguments from potential', Monash Bioethics Review 25:1 (Jan. 2006): 42-47.
Peter Singer and Helga Kuhse, '1980-2005: Bioethics then and now', Monash Bioethics Review 25:1 (Jan. 2006): 9-14.
Rob Sparrow, 'Cloning, parenthood, and genetic relatedness', Bioethics 20:6 (2006): 308-318.
Rob Sparrow and Linda Sparrow, 'In the hands of machines? The future of aged care', Minds and Machines 16:2 (2006): 141-161.
Rob Sparrow, 'Right of the living dead? Consent to experimental surgery in the event of cortical death', Journal of Medical Ethics 32:10 (Oct. 2006): 601-605.
Rob Sparrow, '"Trust us ... We're doctors": Science, media, and the ethics in the Hwang stem cell controversy', Journal of Communication Research 43:1 (2006): 5-24.
In 2005:
Angela Ballantyne, 'HIV international clinical research: exploitation and risk', Bioethics 29:5-6 (2005).
Russell Blackford, 'Human Cloning and 'Posthuman' Society', Monash Bioethics Review 24:1 (2005). pp.10-26.
Norman Ford, 'Reply to letter on Stem Cell Research', Internal Medicine Journal 35:4 (2005). pp. 573-574.
Norman Ford, 'Respect due to Human Embryos, Research and Legislation', Internal Medicine Journal 35:4 (2005). pp. 258-260.
Toby Handfield and Trevor Pisciotta, 'Is the Risk-Liability Theory compatible with negligence Law?', Legal Theory 11:4 (2005). pp.387-404.
Justin Oakley and Dean Cocking, 'Consequentialism, Complacency, and Slippery Slope Arguments', Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 26:3 ( 2005). pp. 227-239.
Justin Oakley, Stephen Bolsin, and Tom Faunce, 'Practical Virtue Ethics: healthcare whistleblowing and porfable digital technology', Journal of Medical Ethics 31:10 (2005). pp. 612-618.
Justin Oakley, Silvana Marasco and Joseph Ibrahim, 'Public Disclosure of Surgeon-Specific Report Cards: Current Status of the Debate', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Surgery 75:11 (2005). pp. 1000-1004.
Justin Oakley and Leanne White, 'Whistleblowing, virtue and accountability in an age of precarious employment', Just Policy 37 (Sept. 2005). pp. 64-70.
Robert Sparrow, 'Defending Deaf Culture: The case of Cochlear Implants', The Journal of Political Philosophy 13:2 (2005). pp. 135-152.
Robert Sparrow, 'Hands up who wants to die?: Primoratz on responsibility and civilian immunity in wartime', Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 8:3 (2005). pp. 299-319.
Robert Sparrow, 'The Turing Triage Test', Ethics and Information Technology 6:4 (2005). pp. 203-213.
In 2004:
Simon Burgess, 'The Newcomb Problem: An unqualified resolution', Synthese 138:2 (2004) 261-287.
Stewart Cameron and Paul Biegler, 'A Primer on the Law of Competence to refuse medical treatment', Australian Law Journal 78 (2004) 325-342.
Steve Clarke and Justin Oakley, 'Informed Consent and Surgeons' Performance', Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 29:1 (2004) 11-35.
Norman Ford, 'Embryo Reduction' in Procréation et droits de l 'enfant (ed.) Gérard Teboul, Nemesis & Bruylant, Bruxelles (2004).
Norman Ford, 'Ethical Aspects of Prenatal Screening and Diagnosis' in Genetics and Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Study (ed.) Gerard Magill, Saint Louis University Press, St. Louis.
Norman Ford, 'Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research: The Position of the Catholic Church' in Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues in Organ Transplantation (ed.s) T.Gutmann, A.S. Daar, R.A.Sells, W.Land, Pabst Science Publishers, Lengerich, Germany (2004).
Helga Kuhse, 'Bioeticae e mass-media: alcune riflessioni critiche' in Bioeticae e mass-media: Le questioni della privacy e della buonia informazione (ed.) Maurizio Balistreri and Simone Pollo, Anglo Guermi & Ass. Sp.A, Milano (2004).
Helga Kuhse, 'Why Terminal Sedation is no solution to the Voluntary Euthanasia debate' in Terminal Sedation: Euthanasia in Disguise? (ed.) Torbjörn Tännsjö, Kluwer Publishers, Dordrecht (2004) 57-70.
David Neil, Steve Clarke and Justin G Oakley, 'Public reporting of individual surgeon performance information: United Kingdom developments and Australian issues', Medical Journal of Australia 181:5 (2004) 266-268.
David Neil and Jillian Craigie, 'The Ethics of Pharmacogenomics', Monash Bioethics Review, 23:2 (2004), 9-20.
Inna Semetsky, 'The complexity of Individuation', The International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 1:4 (2004) 324-346.
Inna Semetsky, 'Becoming-language/becoming-other: Whence ethics?', Educational Philosophy and Theory, 36:3 (2004), 313-325.
Inna Semetsky, 'Introduction: Experiencing Deleuze'.Educational Philosophy and Theory, 36:3 (2004), 227-231.
Inna Semetsky, 'Philosophy of education as a process-philosophy: Eros and Communication', Concrescence: The Australasian Journal of Process Thought (2004).
In 2003:
Dirk Baltzly, 'Peripatetic Perversions: A neo-Aristotelian account of sexual perversion', The Monist 86:1 (2003), 3–29.
Paul Biegler, 'Should Patient consent be required to write a DNR Order?', Journal of Medical Ethics 29:6 (2003), 359-363.
Karen Green, 'Distance, Divided Responsibility & Universalizability', Monist 86:3 (2003), 501-515.
Toby Handfield, 'Nozick, Prohibition, and No-Fault Motor Insurance', Journal of Applied Philosophy 20:2 (2003), 201-208.
Jeanett Kennett, 'Delusion, Dissociation and Identity', Philosophical Explorations VI:1 (2003), 31-49.
Jeanett Kennett, 'Friendship and Role Morality' in The Moral Circle and the Self, (ed) K.Chong et al.
Nicole Woodrow, 'Termination Review Committees: Are they necessary?', Medical Journal of Australia 179:2 (2003), 92-94.
Deborah Zion, 'Justice as Equitable Power Relations: Beyond the "Standard of Care" Debate and the Declaration of Helsinki', American Journal of Bioethics 3:2 (2003), W34-W35.
Deborah Zion, 'Culture, Community and Consent; A response to Barrett and Parker', Monash Bioethics Review 22:3 (2003), 23-28.
In 2002:
Kylie Anstey, 'Sex selection and disability avoidance: is their opposed treatment conceptually consistent?', Monash Bioethics Review 21:1 (2002), 10-28.
John Armstrong, Conditions of Love, Penguin (2002).
Norman Ford, The Prenatal Person: Ethics from Conception to Birth, Blackwell (2002).
Karen Green, 'The Other as Another Other', Hypatia 17:4 (2002), 1-15.
Simon Keller, 'Expensive Tastes and Distributive Justice', Social Theory and Practice 28:4 (2002), 529-552.
Jeanette Kennett, 'Autism, Empathy and Moral Agency', Philosophical Quarterly 52:208 (2002), 340-357.
Jeanette Kennett, 'Identity, Control and Responsibility: The Case of Dissociative Identity Disorder', Philosophical Psychology 15:4 (2002), 509-526.
Helga Kuhse, The Practical Ethics of Peter Singer, Blackwell (2002).
Helga Kuhse, 'Introduction: The Practical Ethics of Peter Singer' in Peter Singer: Unsanctifying Human Life, (ed) H. Kuhse, Blackwell (2002).
Helga Kuhse, 'Response to R.M. Perkin & David B. Resnik', Journal of Medical Ethics 28:4 (2002), 270-274.
Helga Kuhse, 'Voluntary Active Euthanasia and the Nurse', Nursing Ethics 9:3 (2002), 313-322.
Neil Levy, Moral Relativism: A Short Introduction, Oneworld (2002).
Justin Oakley, 'Democracy, embryonic stem cell research, and the Roman Catholic Church', Journal of Medical Ethics 28:4 (2002), 228-228.
Ian Olver, Is Death Ever Preferable to Life?, Kluwer (2002).
Grace Yee, 'Desiring to Believe', The Monist 85:3 (2002), 446-455.
In 2001:
Jeanette Kennett, Agency and Responsibility: a common-sense moral psychology, Oxford University Press (2001).
Justin Oakely, Ethics and Professional Roles, Cambridge University Press (2001).
Helga Kuhse, 'Euthanasia and the family: an analysis of Japanese doctors' reactions to demands for voluntary euthanasia', Monash Bioethics Review (2001).
Helga Kuhse, 'Euthanasia in Australia and the Slippery slope argument', Ethiek & Maatschappij (2001).
Helga Kuhse, 'Should cloning be banned for the sake of the child?' APoiesis & Praxis (2001).
Justin Oakely, 'Indicators of Risk-Adjusted Clinical Performance', Journal of Law and Medicine (2001).
In 2000:
Dirk Baltzly, 'Moral Dilemmas are not a local issue', Philosophy.
Karen Green, 'De Sade, de Beauvoir and Dworkin', Australian Feminist Studies.
Jeanette Kennett, 'Friendship and moral danger', Journal of Philosophy (with Dean Cocking).
Kim Little, 'An ambulance of the wrong colour', Monash Bioethics Review.
Natalie Stoljar, 'Is positivism committed to intentionalism?' in Judicial Power, Democracy and Legal Positivism, Ashgate (2000).
Natalie Stoljar, 'Autonomy and the Feminist Intuition' in Relational Autonomy, Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency and The Social Self, OUP (2000).
Natalie Stoljar, 'Autonomy' in Relational Autonomy, Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency and the Social Self, OUP (2000).
Chin-Liew Ten, 'Deserved punishment and benefits to victims', Utilitas.
Chin-Liew Ten, 'A Child's right to a father', Monash Bioethics Review.