Alternatives to neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics

Most contemporary variants of virtue ethics have a neo-Aristotelian timbre. However, standing alongside the neo-Aristotelians are a number of others playing similar tunes on different instruments. This chapter highlights the four most important virtue ethical alternatives to the dominant neo-Aristotelian chorus. These are Michael Slote’s agent-based approach, Linda Zagzebski’s exemplarism, Christine Swanton’s target-centered theory, and Robert Merrihew Adams’s neo-Platonic account. What these four approaches showcase is the range of possible theoretical structures available to virtue ethicists. A virtue ethicist might attempt to define other normative qualities like goodness or rightness in terms of virtuous traits. But she need not. Instead, she might develop a theory in which virtue is fundamental but other normative qualities obey a logic that is at least partially independent of virtue. This chapter draws attention to an exciting range of possibilities for virtue ethics that both critics and advocates alike will want to explore

Characters and roles

For 21st century ethicists, one’s character is thought to be a matter of one’s internal dispositions and their external manifestation in action. This assumption, which is universally accepted among contemporary authors, would not have been shared by 18th century writers. Alongside one’s internal dispositions, Butler, Hutcheson, Hume, and their peers also considered one’s social roles to be part of one’s character. This paper outlines the attractions of the earlier conception of character and responds to objections that must be faced by any account that includes social roles among character’s ingredients

Punishment and protest

Ethicists often approach our task by thinking about the norms that apply to act types. We ask, for example, what it means to punish, to make amends, or to forgive, and what conditions govern the appropriate performance of actions that fall within these types. However, actions often do not fall neatly into only one action type. This chapter discusses two cases that can be interpreted both as acts of protest and as acts of what Linda Radzik calls “informal social punishment.” Since the norms that govern these two types diverge, the fact that a particular action can be interpreted in either of these ways poses a challenge for anyone who might be seeking moral guidance from the type to which the action belongs. The cases highlight a theoretical gap that needs to be filled not only by accounts of social punishment or protest but also by ethicists who would use this approach to think about actions of other overlapping types

Conjuring ethics from words

No abstract available

Assisted dying in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand: Lessons for Scotland

Assisted dying is now legal in many parts of the world, including in several US states, Colombia, Switzerland, Spain, and the Benelux countries (Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands). Three of the countries who most recently passed laws to permit assisted dying are Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. These three nations are perhaps the most similar to Scotland in terms of their legal and political systems and their cultural heritage. In this policy paper, we compare laws in these three nations with the legislation currently being considered in the Scottish Parliament in order to see what lessons can be drawn for Scotland from their approaches and experiences

Palliative Care and Assisted Dying Laws

Proposals are being developed in Scotland, the Isle of Man and Jersey to allow assisted dying for people who are terminally ill, if they request it. Some people oppose legalization because of fears about the effects that assisted dying laws might have on palliative care provision. This policy briefing evaluates the evidence for those fears. It concludes that assisted dying laws do not have an adverse effect upon palliative care provision. Instead, assisted dying complements existing palliative care options by upholding voluntary choice, supporting autonomy in end-of-life care. This conclusion is supported by four key findings: (1) It is not more difficult to access expert palliative care in jurisdictions where assisted dying has been legalised; (2) Legalising assisted dying expands patient choice at the end of life; (3) Growth in palliative care has not stalled in jurisdictions where assisted dying has been legalised; and (4) Legalising assisted dying does not cause palliative care provision to decline

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Understanding, excusing, forgiving

This paper explores the relation between understanding and forgiving. A number of people have argued against the old adage that to understand is to forgive, for in many instances understanding leads to excusing rather than forgiving. Nonetheless, there is an interesting connection to be found between forgiving and understanding. I identify three ways in which understanding can lead to forgiveness of unexcused wrongdoing: It can do so by changing our interpretation of the actor, by changing our interpretation of the action, and by engaging self-love