ethical thinking

EU shows how to do a dodgy survey

Anne Fleck | 16 May 2013 |

tags: EU, homophobia, human rights

The EU's largest-ever survey of hate crimes and discrimination against LGBT people claims that they labour under a terrible burden. But the figures don’t support the conclusions.

Why should we care about Boston?

Michael Cook | 24 April 2013 |

tags: Boston Marathon bombings, Christianity, media, solidarity

Some Australian journalists have asked why so much coverage was given to American deaths and so little to deaths in Iraq. Are they right?

Burying Thatcher: why celebrating death is still wrong

Patrick Stokes | 17 April 2013 |

tags: death, ethics, Margaret Thatcher, obituaries

Our dealings with the dead are just as ethically governed as our dealings with the living.

The road to same-sex marriage was paved by Rousseau

Robert R. Reilly | 15 April 2013 |

tags: Aristotle, philosophy, Rousseau, same-sex marriage

At the heart of the debate over same-sex marriage are fundamental questions about who men are and how we decide what makes us flourish.

The empathy gap

John Tirman | 02 April 2013 |

tags: Afghanistan, drones, Iraq

Where is the sympathy for the civilian victims of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

The shaky science behind same-sex marriage

Institute for Marriage and Public Policy , Harvey C. Mansfield and Leon R. Kass | 26 March 2013 |

tags: same-sex marriage, same-sex parenting, US Supreme Court

The case rests squarely on sociology and psychology. How reliable can this be, ask two distinguished scholars.

What money can’t buy

Michael Cook | 26 February 2013 |

tags: book reviews, commodification, market economy, utilitarianism

What is the proper role of money and markets in a democratic society? How can we protect the priceless goods in moral and civic life from being bought and sold?

Hellfire, morality and strategy

George Friedman | 20 February 2013 |

tags: drones, ethics of warfare, US

The use of drones may be legal under international war, but it is leading the US into unknown territory.

Bill Gates and his mixed up global health agenda

Carolyn Moynihan | 15 February 2013 |

tags: Bill Gates, polio eradication, population control

Bill and Melinda Gates want to stop polio and also the growth of third world population. One of these campaigns could be undermining the other.

The dead-end values driving euthanasia advocacy

Margaret Somerville | 21 January 2013 |

tags: Canada, euthanasia, relativism

A Quebec government report endorsing euthanasia rests on a moral relativism that has already failed the young.

Harvard Munch: when liberty becomes bondage

Michael Cook | 10 January 2013 |

tags: Harvard, John Stuart Mill, sado-masochism, utilitarianism

One hundred and fifty years after J S Mill's famous book on Utilitarianism, the heirs of his philosophy are embracing nihilism.

A more than nominal problem

Karl D. Stephan | 13 December 2012 |

tags: abortion, artificial intelligence, Holocaust, philosophy

By tempting us to define our own reality, nominalism can throw a whole culture out of whack.

The third rail of feminism

Michael Cook | 11 December 2012 |

tags: Africa, female genital mutilation, feminism

Why isn't the media interested in the facts about the controversial practice of female genital mutilation?

“Privacy is for paedos”

Michael Cook | 04 December 2012 |

tags: journalism, Leveson Inquiry, media, privacy

At the heart of this gigantic report are unanswered questions about the nature of privacy.

Shoot first, aim later

Michael Kirke | 04 December 2012 |

tags: abortion, Ireland, media ethics

Ireland's Press Council was praised by the Leveson Inquiry. But it hasn't put a stop to the group think in the Irish media.

Population imperialists show their hand in Manila

Francisco S. Tatad | 03 December 2012 |

tags: Philippines, population control, Reproductive Health Bill

International heavyweights and Philippine business interests unite in a desperate bid to get a highly controversial bill passed.

The Unintended Reformation

Charles J. Chaput | 16 November 2012 |

tags: book reviews, Reformation, secularism

The long-term effect of the Reformation was to create "the kingdom of whatever", a world where meaning is self-invented and meaninglessness is the public philosophy.

The smokescreen putting young men’s health at risk

Thomas Coy | 13 November 2012 |

tags: health policy, HIV, homosexuality

How much worse do the risks of gay sex have to be before it rates the same public health warnings as smoking?

The cycle of fallen heroes

Zac Alstin | 06 November 2012 |

tags: heroes, Lance Armstrong

Like Hercules, Lance Armstrong was a hero, and like the Greek demi-god, he lacked important virtues.

Dr Capable or Mr Charm?

Alma Acevedo | 23 October 2012 |

tags: 2012 elections, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney

Should we like politicians who send the charm meter off the scale, or those who have decency and good judgment?

Only 60 years overdue

Margriet Krijtenburg | 19 October 2012 |

tags: European Union, Nobel Peace Prize, Robert Schuman

Despite its critics in the Anglosphere, the European Union has been a great force for peace after centuries of strife. It deserves its Nobel Peace Prize.

Requiem for a truth-teller

Robert P. George | 19 October 2012 |

tags: Communism, obituaries, truth

Historian Eugene Genovese was a teller of truth, even when the truth to be told was ugly, embarrassing, humiliating.

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