This special session will describe an anti-racism initiative co-led by The Hastings Center and a diverse steering committee of justice-focused bioethics scholars, including Hastings senior advisor Faith Fletcher. The initiative aims to strengthen bioethics’s ability and moral responsibility to address racial and health injustices. The event, which is open to the public, will take place online on Thursday, October 14, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH). Learn more and register here.
Moral Bioenchancement Essay Wins Roscoe Award
Faced with existential threats such as climate change, some scholars argue that “moral bioenhancement” is needed to improve our collective moral capacity to do the right thing before it’s too late. But moral enhancement—whether through medications or other interventions--could have an immoral effect, argues Timothy Brown in “Moral Bioenhancement as Potential Means of Oppression,” the winner of the 2021 David Roscoe Award for an Early-Career Essay on Science, Ethics, and Society.” Read the essay and learn more about the award.
Genetic Lottery; Religious Exemptions for Covid Vaccines -- in Hastings Biothics Forum
Can genetic data that aims to predict complex human outcomes such as educational attainment be used to reduce social inequality? Senior research scholar Erik Parens closely examines this question in a commentary about a new book, The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality, by Kathryn Paige Harden. Read “Will Sociogenomics Reduce Social Inequality?”
Faced with mandatory vaccination against Covid-19, many people, including health care workers, have appealed for religious exemptions. Bernard Prusak, of King’s College in Pennsylvania, examines the legal and moral standing of these appeals. Read “What Warrants Religious Exemption from Covid Vaccine Mandates.”
Upcoming Events
"Doing Bioethics in Public: Learnings from Hastings Center Initiatives," a presentation by Hastings Center scholars Nancy Berlinger and Erik Parens, and Rice Family Fellow LizBowen in a preconference session at ASBH. October 12.
"Genetically-Informed Education: The Problem or the Cure to Essentialism, Racism, and Ableism," a presentation by Hastings Center presidential scholar Lucas Matthews at ASBH. October 13.
"Abortion Clinics Dwindle While Deceptive 'Crisis Pregnancy Centers' Thrive: Epistemic Justice Concerns and Policy Solutions," a presentation by Hastings Center project manager/research assistant Danielle Pacia at ASBH. October 15.
"Toxic Treatments and Transgenic Rats: The Ecological Dimensions of Disability Art," a presentation by Hastings Center Rice Family Fellow Liz Bowen at ASBH. October 16.
"The Many Facets of Moral Distress Across Health Care Settings," a presentation by Hastings Center research scholar Nancy Berlinger at University of Pennsylvania. October 19.
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