On Twitter recently, I wrote that although Jason Stanley and I share some commonalities, there are differences between us, an observation that he seems to have appreciated. One of the differences between us, I noted, is that I’m dangerous for philosophy and he’s not. (As one nondisabled feminist philosopher put it to me years ago, […]
Philosophy of Disability Contra Bioethics
Behind the scenes, we are gearing up for Philosophy, Disability and Social Change 2 (#PhiDisSocCh2) which takes place December 7-10, that is, begins two weeks from tomorrow. You can still register for the conference here: https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/events/philosophy-disability-and-social-change-2-conference I’m extremely pleased about the line-up for this year’s conference. I’m also very happy that I will be dropping […]
Bioethics has Always Been Eugenic
A group of authors has just published a brief essay for the Monash Bioethics Review entitled “Can ‘eugenics’ be defended?” In the essay, the authors contend that bioethics discourse is polarized and politicized, and that this is a problem. While the goals of their essay seem to shift across the essay, the specific discussion they […]
(How) Is Disability Relevant to the Field of Social Ontology?
The conception of disability that currently prevails in philosophy construes it as a philosophically uninteresting and value-neutral biological trait, that is, as a self-evidently natural and deleterious characteristic, difference, or property that some people embody or possess. Insofar as philosophers hold this naturalized and individualized conception of disability, they assume that disability is a prediscursive […]
Letter to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs of the Government of Canada in Opposition to Bill C-7
This morning, as per Catherine Frazee’s request, I submitted a letter to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs of the Canadian Government. The letter articulates my opposition to Bill C-7, which would expand access to medically-assisted suicide (“MAID”) for disabled people. Given the dearth of disabled philosophers (of disability) in Canadian philosophy, […]
Bioethics, Catherine Frazee, and MAID in Canada
In a previous post, I discussed the role that bioethicists in Canada, including feminist bioethicists, have played in the development in Canada of legislation and public policy designed to facilitate medically-assisted suicide and subsequent expansion of it. This set of events should be recognized as the incremental normalization of power relations that I discuss in […]
Correspondence From a Cyborg about the American Society for Bioethics & Humanities Conference
BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY received the correspondence below over the weekend. The ongoing inaccessibility of the ASBH conferences reproduces the exclusion of disabled philosophers from the profession, the marginalization of critical philosophical work on disability, and the eugenic impetus of bioethics more generally. ____________________________________________________________ Hi Shelley: Please consider this for publication on BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY. This is something […]
Philosophy and Structural Gaslighting About Disability
Philosophers generally do not regard critical examination of disability as suitable to research and teaching in social metaphysics and social epistemology; nor do they, generally, appreciate the critical importance of philosophy of disability but rather remain resolute that philosophical inquiry about disability is appropriately and adequately conducted in the established subfield of bioethics. Indeed, a […]
Philosophy, The Apparatus of Disability, and the #EugenicsSyllabus Project
In the fifth chapter of Foucault and Feminist Philosophy of Disability, I argue that bioethics is a strategy of modern eugenics. In earlier articles—such as “Reproductive Freedom, Self-Regulation, and the Government of Impairment In Utero” and “Biopower, Styles of Reasoning, and What’s Still Missing From the Stem Cell Debates”—I pointed out ways in which the […]
CFA: Philosophies of Disability and the Global Pandemic (deadline: Jul. 15, 2020)
Call for Abstracts for a special issue of International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies on the theme of Philosophies of Disability and the Global Pandemic Guest editor: Shelley Tremain, Ph.D. This notice cordially invites abstracts for a special issue of International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies (IJCDS) whose theme will be Philosophies of Disability and […]
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