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St Cross Seminar: Governing life: is it wrong to intervene in biological processes?

Series
Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
In this seminar we explore why human interventions such as euthanasia or use of biotechnologies are controversial.
Is it wrong to intervene in biological processes? Human intervention in the living world gives rise to controversies where scientists are criticised for working on biotechnologies and physicians for ending life when a terminally ill patient is experiencing unmanageable suffering. This lecture will explain the perpetuation of political controversies by showing that scientific and moral assessments of human intervention in the living world are unsolvable because they are based on cognitive biases. Looking at case studies of such controversial issues (end of life intervention, GMOs and synthetic biology
debates), my analysis will focus on the apparent clarity of the double contrast between natural beings and artificial objects on the one hand, and risk and realms of uncertainty on the other. The interesting point here is that the relationship between scientific expertise and political issues is clearly related to these implicit epistemological prerequisites.

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Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics

St Cross Seminar: Justifications for Non-Consensual Medical Intervention: From Infectious Disease Control to Criminal Rehabilitation

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Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics

Leverhulme Lecture 1: The Nature and the Significance of Implicit Bias

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Episode Information

Series
Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
People
Virginie Tournay
Keywords
biological processes
life
biotechnologies
end-of-life
euthanasia
controversy
Department: Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
Date Added: 01/02/2016
Duration: 00:24:28

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