Everything American is more: more interesting, more special, more problematic, more controversial, more important, more urgent, more radical, more insightful, more progressive, more invested, more pertinent, more attention-grabbing, more useful, more instructive, more informed. So it should surprise no one that the participation of American philosopher Alex Byrne in the production of “Treatment of Pediatric […]
Dialogues on Disability: Robert Chapman and Mich Ciurria Interview Shelley Tremain (Tenth-anniversary Edition)
Hello, I’m Shelley Tremain and I would like to welcome you to the tenth-anniversary installment of Dialogues on Disability, the series of interviews that I have conducted with disabled philosophers for the past ten years and have posted to BIOPOLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (and the now-defunct Discrimination and Disadvantage blog) on the third Wednesday of every month […]
Special Issue of Canadian Journal of Disability Studies on MAiD (vol. 13, no. 2, 2024)
I am very happy to inform you that Canadian Journal of Disability Studies (CJDS) has published a special issue on the theme “Medical Assistance in Dying; Resistance in Canada”. The issue comprises testimonials of many of the leading theorists and activists who publicly organize against MAiD and the very real dangers that the eugenic policies […]
Quote of the Week (and It’s Only Thursday): Conscientious Objections, Bioethics, and MAiD
This week’s quote-of-the-week post (though it’s only Thursday) sheds light on how the relatively recent deployment in bioethics of the term conscientious objection enables (neo)liberal eugenic goals. As a philosopher whose thinking has been formatively influenced by Foucault, my philosophical motivations derive in large part from a desire to problematize (in Foucault’s sense) what is […]
Quote of the Week (and It’s Only Thursday): On MAiD
This post is the first in a series that I am calling “Quote of the Week (and It’s Only Thursday)”. For on many Thursdays henceforth, I will post a variously provocative, memorable, unforgettable, edgy, etc. passage or sentence (or maybe just a word) that I read somewhere–whether in an article or book, on social media […]
Picard, Propaganda, and How the Mainstream Media Helps Bioethicists Help Shape the Eugenic Agenda in Canada
In the week following the publication of his book (his only book), Neglected No More, journalist André Picard was interviewed by co-host Adrienne Arsenault on a segment of The National, a nightly news program of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). During the course of the interview, Arsenault asked Picard why he wrote a book about […]
Philosophy, Bioethics, and Dirty Hands
In my previous post, I noted that one philosopher in attendance at my Syracuse presentation claimed that I had confused the causal relation between bioethics (and bioethicists) and the popularity and normalization of prenatal testing and screening. As I noted, furthermore, my interlocutor pointed out to me (in a somewhat patronizing fashion) that prospective parents […]
Bioethics and the Reproduction of Power
During the question period following my presentation at Syracuse University, one interlocutor asserted that I had confused the direction of causation between prenatal testing and bioethics. Prospective parents, he said, do not, as he understood me to suggest, avail themselves of prenatal testing because bioethicists tell them to do so. Rather, the technology has developed, […]
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 […]
MAiD for Addicts and Mad People (Guest post)
MAiD for Addicts and Mad People by T. Virgil Murthy Months ago, I wrote an article for the Addict Collective blog titled “Does the 2024 MAiD Expansion Apply to Addicts?” I never published it—I reasoned it was probably unwise to remind the MAiD architects about our existence—but my confusion and worry steadily mounted. Press releases […]
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