983 research outputs found
Cost Effectiveness Analysis and Fairness
This article considers some different views of fairness and whether they conflict with the use of a version of Cost Effectiveness Analysis (CEA) that calls for maximizing health benefits per dollar spent. Among the concerns addressed are whether this version of CEA ignores the concerns of the worst off and inappropriately aggregates small benefits to many people. I critically examine the views of Daniel Hausman and Peter Singer who defend this version of CEA and Eric Nord among others who criticize it. I come to focus in particular on the use of CEA in allocating scarce resources to the disabled
OtherâSacrificing Options
I argue that you can be permitted to discount the interests of your adversaries even though doing so would be impartially suboptimal. This means that, in addition to the kinds of moral options that the literature traditionally recognises, there exist what I call other-sacrificing options. I explore the idea that you cannot discount the interests of your adversaries as much as you can favour the interests of your intimates; if this is correct, then there is an asymmetry between negative partiality toward your adversaries and positive partiality toward your intimates
Abortion Bans and Cruelty
Abortion bans have been characterized as cruel especially in not allowing
exceptions for rape or incest. The article first examines one approach to morally
justifying bans based on the Doctrine of Double Effect (DDE) which distinguishes
morally between killing or letting die intending death versus doing so only foreseeing
death. It then presents some criticisms of the implications of the DDE but also argues that
what the doctrine permits helps provide a ground for the permissibility of abortions even
if the fetus is a person. Whether there are limits on applying this argument is also
considered. In conclusion, the article considers whether and why not permitting
exceptions to bans for rape and incest is cruel and whether cruelty is a ground for
opposition to bans
Problems in the morality of killing and letting die.
Thesis. 1980. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy.MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND HUMANITIES.Bibliography: leaves 339-341.Ph.D
Post-Collision Interaction with Wannier electrons
A theory of the Post-Collision Interaction (PCI) is developed for the case
when an electron atom impact results in creation of two low-energy Wannier
electrons and an ion excited into an autoionizing state. The following
autoionization decay exposes the Wannier pair to the influence of PCI resulting
in variation of the shape of the line in the autoionization spectrum. An
explicit dependence of the autoionization profile on the wave function of the
Wannier pair is found. PCI provides an opportunity to study this wave function
for a wide area of distancesComment: 33 pages, Latex, IOP style, and 3 figures fig1.ps, fig2.ps, fig3.p
Atomistic modelling of large-scale metal film growth fronts
We present simulations of metallization morphologies under ionized sputter
deposition conditions, obtained by a new theoretical approach. By means of
molecular dynamics simulations using a carefully designed interaction
potential, we analyze the surface adsorption, reflection, and etching reactions
taking place during Al physical vapor deposition, and calculate their relative
probability. These probabilities are then employed in a feature-scale
cellular-automaton simulator, which produces calculated film morphologies in
excellent agreement with scanning-electron-microscopy data on ionized sputter
deposition.Comment: RevTeX 4 pages, 2 figure
Knowledge of Objective 'Oughts': Monotonicity and the New Miners Puzzle
In the classic Miners case, an agent subjectively ought to do what they know is objectively wrong. This case shows that the subjective and objective âoughtsâ are somewhat independent. But there remains a powerful intuition that the guidance of objective âoughtsâ is more authoritativeâso long as we know what they tell us. We argue that this intuition must be given up in light of a monotonicity principle, which undercuts the rationale for saying that objective âoughtsâ are an authoritative guide for agents and advisors
An archaeology of borders: qualitative political theory as a tool in addressing moral distance
Interviews, field observations and other qualitative methods increasingly are being used to inform the construction of arguments in normative political theory. This article works to demonstrate the strong salience of some kinds of qualitative material for cosmopolitan arguments to extend distributive boundaries. The incorporation of interviews and related qualitative material can make the moral claims of excluded others more vivid and possibly more difficult to dismiss by advocates of strong priority to compatriots in distributions. Further, it may help to promote the kind of perspective taking that has been associated with actually motivating a willingness to aid by individuals. Illustrative findings are presented from field work conducted for a normative project on global citizenship, including interviews with unauthorized immigrants and the analysis of artifacts left behind on heavily used migrant trails
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