In British universities and, I suspect, elsewhere, medical ethics has been one of the big growth areas in philosophy (well, quasi-philosophy, anyway). It seems, in fact, that the expansion has been so fast that universities are struggling to find qualified lecturers. How else to explain that a scientist who tried to poison his wife’s gin-and-tonics with atropine and tried to cover his tracks by spiking products at the local supermarket has been “taken on by the University of Manchester”:http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/9561757?source=PA to lecture in philosophy and medical ethics? Do as I say, not as I do? (Hat tip “Mick Hartley”:http://mickhartley.typepad.com/blog/2004/03/the_ethics_of_p.html )
{ 5 comments }
Kieran Healy 03.18.04 at 11:04 am
This is a confirming instance of a wholly unfair pet theory of mine about people who specialize in ethics.
harry 03.18.04 at 12:09 pm
Come on Chris, the guy has practical experience of a real medical ethical question (‘Is active euthanasia permissible, even when the patient is not ill and does not consent?’). I have very limited practical expereince of the kinds of moral question I teach. This is the new, relevant, university.
Rich Puchalsky 03.18.04 at 1:35 pm
The students arrested for violent crimes and theft at the university I attended seemed to be primarily Criminology majors. Perhaps Keiran Healy’s pet theory has even wider applicability.
Jimmy Doyle 03.18.04 at 2:22 pm
As Lady Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK, said in the Barbara Diamond memorial lecture reported in today’s Groan:
“Academia cannot isolate itself from ‘the real world’ and pursue learning exclusively. It must legitimise itself by reflecting the society it serves.”
maurinsky 03.18.04 at 3:20 pm
Maybe he’ll be teaching the “Goofus” way. There is a magazine for kids called “Highlights”, and they used to have a cartoon that showed Goofus and Gallant. Goofus would illustrate how *not* to do things, then Gallant would show how wrong Goofus was.
Never mind, I think this person is an extremely poor choice to teach anything to anyone.
This reminds me of a situation at a local University, Central Connecticut State University. The President of CCSU was arrested 2 years ago for impersonating a police officer, and now has admitted to plagiarizing. But the faculty has voted against firing him because they fear a leadership vacuum. Apparently they don’t care what kind of leadership there is.
Students, who are subject to expulsion over even unintended plagiarism, are up in arms.
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