Everyday Ethics

During the recent memorial service for Penn State’s legendary football coach, Joe Paterno, most of the speakers tactfully avoided making comments about Paterno’s role in the now infamous Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal.  The majority of the speakers spoke about Paterno’s commitment to winning “the right way,” and about his skills as a leader and [...]

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SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, is currently making its way around Washington, D.C., and the negative response of the online community is resounding through its marbled halls.  There are lots of places on the web where you might find explanations of what SOPA is about (here’s one), as well as why you should or [...]

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The recent revelation that Tiger Woods has been engaging in not one, but numerous extramarital affairs has cast a dark shadow on a sports figure that has otherwise enjoyed messianic status.  Tiger Woods is easily the greatest golfer of his generation, and possibly the best that has ever played.  He is also an iconic figure [...]

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In a recent article published in The American, farmer Blake Hurst attempts to make a positive case for industrial agriculture.  Hurst makes two key points, both of which reflect questionable assumptions that come to light in the face of philosophical analysis.  Hurst also provides us with an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the practical applicability of [...]

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Last week, an FDA advisory panel recommended a number of significant changes regarding the sale and marketing of products that contain acetaminophen, which is the active ingredient in the popular over-the-counter painkiller Tylenol.  Three of their recommendations are especially significant.
First, they advised that Vicodin and Percocet be discontinued as prescription pain-relieving drugs.  They also suggested [...]

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Another boisterous 4th of July has come and gone, filled with the booms and bangs of fireworks being shot off, as well as the inevitable horrific fireworks injury that always seems to accompany this holiday.  This time, it was an exploding fireworks truck in North Carolina killing three people.  These dangerous results, as well as [...]

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The recent film Blood Diamond is a harrowing story of struggle, loss, and redemption set against the backdrop of civil war in Sierra Leone.  Rebel fighters, determined to bring their nation to prosperity by controlling its recently emergent diamond industry, terrorize the population of Sierra Leone through excessive violence and heartless bloodletting.  The film is [...]

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Although it has fallen off the map recently, the ethics of stem cell research continues to be an exceedingly popular topic in bioethics.  There is much fervor on both sides of the debate.  Proponents of stem cell research view its prohibition as a kind of medical and social malpractice, while its detractors equate it with [...]

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As an ethicist, I am often troubled by the failure of most people to recognize the ethical implications of their own actions.  Many of the things we do are actually strong indicators of our ethical views, and we ought to be careful about demonstrating what we actually believe.  In some cases, our actions speak louder [...]

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Last week, I wrote an article discussing the ethics of purchasing foreclosed homes.  I suggested that there is something ethically suspect about doing so, and that when we do this, we run a very real risk of using others as a means to our ends.  Several individuals replied to this article by arguing that the [...]

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