Two weeks from today, that is, January 14, I leave for the Eastern APA in New York. I will present in an APA symposium on my work in philosophy of disability on Tuesday, January 16, and then travel to Syracuse on Thursday, January 18, to present at the Central New York Humanities Corridor on Friday, […]
Some of Our Favourite Posts of 2023
As the year comes to a close, a review of some of our favourite posts from the year seems apropos. I have catalogued these posts according to the month in which they were initially posted. The list below is by no means exhaustive of the fantastic posts made at BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, especially insofar as the […]
Reproducing Eugenic Injustice: Virtual Presentation to Hypatia 40th Anniversary Conference, Sept. 9, 2023
Hello! I’d like to begin by giving a description of what appears on the screen. I’m a white woman with short hair. I’m wearing large plastic glasses and long earrings. Behind me, to my right, there’s a clock on the wall and a window with curtains. Behind me, to my left, there’s a ceiling fan. […]
CFP: In the Shadow of Eugenic Thinking: Legacies of Eugenics in the UK, Hybrid, May 3, 2023 (deadline: Apr. 14, 2023)
A one-day symposium jointly hosted by the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics and the Centre for Memory Narrative and History, University of Brighton Wednesday 3rd May, 10am-5pm, Online and in-person This symposium will bring together activists, academics, practitioners, educators and artists to explore the legacy of eugenics in the UK. Although overt forms of eugenic thinking […]
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 […]
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