Daniel R. Jones-White, Peter M. Radcliffe, Ronald L. Huesman Jr., John P. Kellogg, Redefining Student Success: Applying Different Multinomial Regression Techniques for the Study of Student Graduation Across Institutions of Higher Education, Research in Higher Education, March 2010, Volume 51, Issue 2, pp.154-157. The article tackles a perceived flaw in standard evaluations of student success….
Category: Philosophy
Debate Paper: Should single individuals be allowed to adopt children?
NO. There are many conundrums, including legal uncertainties, question marks over suitability and the possibility of gender-based discrimination if single individual adoption is allowed. Children need both parents for healthy psychological development. To successfully meet various socio-psychological developmental stages a child would ideally need both parents. Moreover, taking care of a child, especially in its…
Summary and Reflection of ‘Future of Medicine: Perfection and Beyond’ (Chapter 3) of Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku
The chapter takes the reader through an imaginative journey of medicine in the future. Although some of the possibilities proposed appear like material from a science fiction novel, they are based on emerging scientific breakthroughs. One of the themes discussed in the chapter is the increasing mastery of human beings to ‘play God’. Evolving new…
Malcolm Gladwell’s ideas and philosophy in The Tipping Point, as they apply to Occupy Wall Street Movement
Malcolm Gladwell has attempted to create a unique style of scholarship that navigates between science and popular culture. As a result he has earned the wrath from both quarters. For example, scientists accuse him for being simplistic or lacking in rigor. On the other side, commentators from mainstream media accuse him of bringing esoteric scientific…
The Ethics of Biomedical Enhancement: Consensus and Divergence Among Scholars
Two Categories of Biomedical Enhancement (BME) Even within the field of human biomedical enhancement (which is as yet at a theoretical stage) there are two categories. The first are common or corrective enhancements which aim to set right a deficiency (acquired congenitally or through life events) in a human individual. The second are radical or…
The Soundness of Selective Biomedical Enhancements
Enhancements are Integral to the Evolutionary Process Buchanan raises a few valid points in support of selective enhancements. He argues that enhancement is an integral feature of human existence[i]. For example, there are over-the-counter memory enhancement pills that many use. Nobody blinks an eye, let alone bring ethical considerations, in this case. Likewise, one could…
The Essence of Humanity and the Ethics of Biomedical Enhancement
Effects of BME on the Conventional Idea of Humanity, Human Relations, Intimacy and Reproductive Methods In Agar’s well researched book he articulates an important reason why radical enhancements should be forbidden. He argues that the very idea of humanity is intrinsically linked to certain species-specific values and perspectives. These are contained in our culture, art,…
Ethics of Biomedical Enhancement: Risks and Dangers of BME
Ethical Issues Surrounding Sex Selection During or Prior to Conception Whenever technological progress throws up great new possibilities there are also attendant ethical dilemmas relating to such possibilities. Such is the case with genetic engineering in general and human biomedical enhancement in particular. Allan Buchanan is well aware of some immediate pitfalls for society if…
How was the shift from behaviourism to cognitive psychology ‘revolutionary’ in the Kuhnian sense?
The advent of cognitive science at the centre of studying psychology is widely portrayed to be a revolutionary event. It was in the 1950s that the shift from behaviourism to cognitive psychology took its first bold step. There has been no reverting back to behaviourism as the dominant paradigm within psychology ever since. Cognitive psychology…
How does power of Higher Authority manifest in Antigone by Sophocles and Another Antigone by A.R.Gurney?
Almost two and a half millennia separate the ancient Greek version of Antigone (attributed to Sophocles) and its modern adaptation written by A.R. Gurney. The classic version is part of Sophocles’ trilogy of Theban plays: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. The great Greek myth of Oedipus continues to be integral to the…