Against moral theories: reply to Benatar

D Benatar argues that in the author’s recent article Moral theories in teaching applied ethics, the author overlooked important roles that could be played by moral theories in such teaching. In this reply, the cases that Benatar suggests are considered and for each an alternative approach is suggested that will avoid the costs discussed in the original paper and will also be a more effective response to that particular issue

Hooker's ideal code and the sacrifice problem

[FIRST PARAGRAPHS] A common way of arguing against consequentialism is by a reductio ad absurdum, highlighting the fact that, in certain situations, we would be able to maximize well-being by sacrificing or scapegoating an innocent individual. In McCloskey's example, for example, the sheriff of a town frames and executes an innocent man in order to appease an angry mob that is demanding justice. The objection states that the consequentialist is committed to the claim that this is what the sheriff ought to do. The critic then claims that it is not plausible that the correct moral theory could demand the sacrifice of innocent individuals in this way, and therefore consequentialism should be rejected. For the sake of brevity, I will refer to this as the sacrifice problem. Although some consequentialists (most notably J.J.C. Smart) may be willing to embrace the apparent reductio, thereby denying there is a problem, most consequentialists have seen it as a problem, and have been keen to avoid it. On the face of it, Brad Hooker's distribution-sensitive rule-consequentialism, defended in his Ideal Code, Real World, would seem to have the apparatus necessary to avoid the sacrifice problem. Life will go better if people don't steal from each other, and if they refrain from killing innocent people. Therefore, Hooker's rule-consequentialism will protect people from such behavior by conferring to them the necessary rights. I will demonstrate, however, that Hooker's rule-consequentialism may still require the sacrifice of innocent people in certain situations, and therefore remains prone to the sacrifice problem

Staircase Models from Affine Toda Field Theory

We propose a class of purely elastic scattering theories generalising the staircase model of Al. B. Zamolodchikov, based on the affine Toda field theories for simply-laced Lie algebras g=A,D,E at suitable complex values of their coupling constants. Considering their Thermodynamic Bethe Ansatz equations, we give analytic arguments in support of a conjectured renormalisation group flow visiting the neighbourhood of each W_g minimal model in turn.Comment: 22 pages, Saclay-Bologna preprint SPhT/92-065, DFUB-92-0

Survival with Treated and Well-Controlled Blood Pressure: Findings from a Prospective Cohort Study.

AIM: To compare survival and incident cardiovascular disease between normotensive, untreated hypertensive, treated and poorly-controlled hypertensive and treated and well-controlled hypertensive adults. METHODS AND RESULTS: Data from the British Regional Heart Study (men) and British Women's Heart and Health Study (women) were used (N = 6476). Blood pressure and treatment were assessed at baseline (1998-2001) when participants were aged 60-79 years and participants were followed up for a median of 8 years. Date and cause of death were obtained from death certificates and non-fatal cardiovascular disease events were obtained from repeat detailed medical record reviews. Of the whole cohort 52% of women and 49% of men had untreated hypertension and a further 22% and 18%, respectively, had poorly treated hypertension. Just 3% of women and 4% of men had treated and well controlled hypertension and 23% and 29%, respectively, were normotensive. Compared to normotensive individuals, incident cardiovascular disease (fatal and non-fatal) was increased in those with poorly-controlled hypertension (Hazard Ratio (HR): 1.88; 95%CI: 1.53, 2.30), those with untreated hypertension (HR 1.46; 95%CI 1.22, 1.75) and those who were well-controlled hypertension (HR 1.38; 95%CI 0.94, 2.03). Adjustment for baseline differences in mean blood pressure between the groups resulted in attenuation of the increased risk in the poorly-controlled (1.52 (1.18, 1.97) and untreated groups (1.21 (0.97, 1.52), but did not change the association in the well-controlled group. All-cause mortality was also increased in all three hypertension groups but estimates were imprecise with wide confidence intervals. CONCLUSIONS: Half of women and men aged 60-79 in Britain had untreated hypertension and only a very small proportion of those with diagnosed and treated hypertension were well controlled. Those with hypertension, irrespective of whether this was treated and controlled or not, were at greater risk of future cardiovascular disease than those who are normotensive

Climate Change and Professional Responsibility: A Declaration of Helsinki for Engineers

In this paper, we argue that the professional engineering institutions ought to develop a Declaration of Climate Action. Climate change is a serious global problem, and the majority of greenhouse gas emissions come from industries that are enabled by engineers and represented by the engineering professional institutions. If the professional institutions take seriously the claim that a profession should be self-regulating, with codes of ethics that go beyond mere obedience to the law, and if they take their own ethical codes seriously, recognising their responsibility to the public and to future generations (and also recognising a duty of “responsible leadership”), the professional institutions ought to develop a declaration for engineers, addressing climate change. Our argument here is largely inspired by the history of the Declaration of Helsinki. The Declaration of Helsinki was created by the medical profession for the profession, and it held physicians to a higher standard of ethical conduct than was found in the legal framework of individual countries. Although it was not originally a legal document, the influence of the Declaration can be seen in the fact that it is now enshrined in law in a number of different countries. Thus, we argue that the engineering profession could, and should, play a significant role in the abatement of climate change by making changes within the profession. If the engineering profession sets strict standards for professional engineers, with sanctions for those who refuse to comply, this could have a significant impact in relation to our efforts to develop a coordinated response to climate change

Use of methotrexate in inflammatory bowel disease in 2014: A User\u27s Guide

Methotrexate has been used an immunomodulator in many autoimmune diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease. However, many physicians are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with its use in the management of inflammatory bowel disease. We summarize the data for use of methotrexate in common clinical scenarios: (1) steroid dependant Crohn\u27s disease (CD); (2) maintenance of remission in steroid free CD; (3) azathioprine failures in CD; (4) in combination therapy with Anti-TNF agents in CD; (5) decreasing antibody formation to Anti-TNF therapy in CD; (6) management of fistulizing disease in CD; and (7) as well as induction and maintenance of remission in ulcerative colitis. An easy to use algorithm is provided for the busy clinician to access and safely prescribe methotrexate for their inflammatory bowel disease patients