As a disabled philosopher of disability, one of the most (though certainly not the most) frustrating aspects of the recent discussions and debates about MAiD and Bill C-7 that have ensued in the Canadian Senate, on Daily Nous and other blogs, on Facebook, and on Twitter is the way that disability and mental illness have […]
The Carceral Character of Nursing Homes and How Eugenics in Canada is MAiD
This post comprises an excerpt from my article “Philosophy of Disability, Conceptual Engineering, and the Nursing Home-Industrial-Complex in Canada,” which is forthcoming in Philosophies of Disability and the Global Pandemic, a special issue of The International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies of which I am guest editor. Additional posts about nursing homes and about MAiD […]
Senator McPhedran and Bill C-7 Amendment
Here is a must-watch speech by Senator Marilou McPhedran in the current Canadian Senate debate on Bill C-7, proposed legislation to remove the foreseeable death clause from current MAiD legislation. Senator McPhedran, who has a long history of work on policy instruments with respect to international treaties, human rights, and minority populations, both disputes a […]
The Reputation of Canadian Philosophy is in the Balance
On social media platforms all across Canada and the United States, academics, activists, lawyers, physicians, and students, have come alive to the eugenic impetus of MAiD and its latest incarnation, Bill C-7, as well as to the philosophical underpinnings of these policies. Indeed, as I have noted in previous posts on BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, eugenics is […]
Jama and Downie on MAiD
In previous posts, I have drawn attention to the creative and important work of Sarah Jama and the Disability Justice Network of Ontario (DJNO). For instance, I alerted readers/listeners of BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY to the recent “Death By Coercion” webinar that DJNO organized to push back against the way that the perspectives and experiences of Black, […]
Open Questions in Social Ontology
Hsiang-Yun Chen and Sally Haslanger have just edited an special issue on Social Meaning and Reality for the EurAmerica Journal and it features an article by yours truly. This is how they summarize it on their introduction to the special issue: Just as there is a large variety of social categories that an individual can […]
Philosophy of Disability, Conceptual Engineering, and the Nursing Home-Industrial-Complex
The writing below constitutes an excerpt of the penultimate version of my article “Philosophy of Disability, Conceptual Engineering, and the Nursing Home-Industrial-Complex,” which will appear in Philosophies of Disability and the Global Pandemic, a special issue that I’m guest editing for The International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies. The issue should be out by June […]
Some of Your Favourite BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Posts of 2020
By popular demand, I once again present you with a list of some of BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY’s most read/listened to posts of the past year. The year was memorable in a host of heart-wrenching ways, many of which our blog captured. In 2020, you wanted more of: January: Notes on Khader’s Decolonizing Universalism and the Problematization […]
More on Opposition to Bill C-7 (Medically-Assisted Suicide) and the Role of Philosophers
Last week, once again in the context of discussion about MAiD, I returned to the subject of how bioethics and bioethicists continue to shape philosophy departments in Canada and Canadian public policy with respect to the lives of disabled people and the limiting effects that this institutional formation has on the range of views that […]
Capitalism and Chronic Fatigue (guest post by Michelle Ciurria)
The essay below was presented at Philosophy, Disability and Social Change on Friday, December 11, 2020. _____________________________________________________________________________ Capitalism and Chronic Fatigue By Michelle Ciurria In this presentation, I am going to offer a biopolitical explanation of chronic fatigue syndrome or CFS. First, I’ll explain what CFS is. Then, I’ll explain why I consider CFS to […]
