The P-Value: Recent Episodes
Rachael Brown
Can we know the answer to the question "what is life?"? Could our definitions of life blinker us to new life forms we might find in the future?
A bun in the oven? Eating for two? So many of our common phrases regarding pregnancy presume that pregnancy involves two distinct entities —the foetus and the maternal organism in which it resides. This sort of “container model’ of pregnancy pervades so much of our everyday discourse around pregnancy and in the academic sphere. Philosophical discussions of the ethics of maternal behaviour, for example, frequently claim that the location of a child, whether it be within the uterus, or outside is irrelevant to its ethical status. Socially, the tendency to see pregnant women as parents, with all the responsibilities that carries with it, even before they give birth is common. How justified is this view though? Does it have the sort of biological or scientific basis we might assume it to have?
Follow up references:
https://bump.group/
https://philpapers.org/rec/CLATPO-15
https://philpapers.org/rec/CLATMR-2
It's not uncommon to hear "human nature" trucked out to explain all sorts of phenomena from war to human nurturing and cooperation. How scientifically valid are such claims? Is there such a thing as human nature? If so, what is it? In this episode of the P-Value, the first in our philosophy of biology season, we ask where there is a scientifically respectable notion of human nature?
Pre-Implanatation Genetic Diagnosis is a technology with the great potential to reduce suffering but it also can be mis-used. What purposes should we use PGD for? Where should we draw the line?
What is personal genomics? What is it used for? What sort of ethical issues surround this technology in society?