Toward an Abolitionist Genealogy of Bioethics

In recent years, philosophers have increasingly engaged with each other in passionate discussions about academic freedom in the discipline of philosophy and academia more widely, as well as participated in heated debates with members of the broader public about freedom of speech in society generally. The topics around which the most impassioned discussions and debates […]

MAiD in Canada and How To Educate Yourselves About It

At the end of the month, I will speak to the Carnegie Mellon/Pitt M.A.P group about MAiD (euthanasia/medically assisted suicide). My presentation will address (among other things): the role of bioethicists in the production of an eugenic culture in philosophy in general and in Canadian philosophy in particular, drawing out the connections between the current […]

Transhumanism is Eugenics for Educated White Liberals

Transhumanism as “newgenics” Vice just published an article on how “prominent AI philosopher and ‘father’ of longtermism,” Nick Bostrom, “sent very racist email to a 90s philosophy listserv.” Bostrom “said that ‘Blacks are more stupid than whites,’ adding, ‘I like that sentence and think it is true,’ and used a racial slur.” The article mentions that the […]

Beautyism as Ableist Eugenics… and the Mystique of “Choice Feminism” 

Introduction I recently came across this article on Vice.com asking filmmakers to “stop making hot actors play normal people.” The author indicts filmmakers for casting too few “normal” people. I think that this is a much-needed critique, but it lacks philosophical nuance, which I intend to provide here. My analysis will explore the harms of mainstream beauty […]

Bioethics De-Mystified

In “Bioethics as a Technology of Government,” the fifth chapter of my monograph, Foucault and Feminist Philosophy of Disability, I assert that bioethics emerged as a technology of government to resolve the problem that the production of disability poses for the neoliberal management of societies. In particular, disability is constituted as a problem for a […]

Is Resistance to MAiD a Feminist Issue?

The refusal of feminist bioethicists, (so-called) disability bioethicists, and feminist philosophers in general to address the expansion of MAiD (medically assisted suicide) and eugenics in Canada, albeit predictable, is nonetheless egregious, unethical, and goes against everything feminists should aim to cultivate. Indeed, this refusal should make disabled philosophers (and other disabled people) question the professed […]

Peter Singer and The Mystique of Bioethics, Part 1

In recent years, philosophers have increasingly engaged with each other in impassioned discussions about academic freedom in the discipline and profession of philosophy and across academia more broadly, as well as participated in heated debates with members of the broader public about freedom of speech in society more generally. The topics around which the most […]

On This International Holocaust Remembrance Day

The sterilization and extermination of disabled people by the Nazis during the Second World War are often overlooked in remembrances of the Holocaust. Indeed, although many disabled people died in Auschwitz and other camps, thousands of disabled people were sterilized and murdered before the establishment of the camps, as disabled author Kenny Fries, among others, […]

Disaster Ableism, Academic Freedom, and the Mystique of Bioethics

Today is the day on which presenters to the Philosophy, Disability and Social Change II conference in December will provide me with (among other information) the titles of and brief abstracts for their presentations at the conference. Thus I expect to receive some exciting emails throughout the day! Indeed, this year’s conference promises to be […]