Science

Should Facebook suggest posts about the dead on your News Feed? In her article for The Atlantic, Shirley Li wrote about her experience with Facebook suggesting she like a page that was a memorial to a woman who died in 2013. The woman had died in a tragic fire (in a house with a history of code … Continue reading "The Dead on Facebook"

Although the American news coverage has dropped off significantly, the death toll in the Ebola epidemic in West Africa continues to rise. It is currently approaching 10,000 victims, and 6/10 of the people currently suffering from the disease will likely die. Over 8,000 people have died and over 20,000 have been infected. The news cycle … Continue reading "Ebola in the News"

Should anyone be forced to receive medical treatment they do not want? In September, a 17-year-old in Connecticut was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The girl, Cassandra C., told her mother that she did not want to receive chemotherapy treatment because she does not believe in putting “poison into her body,” even if she has cancer. … Continue reading "Minors and Unwanted Medical Treatment"

Death with dignity is increasingly becoming a prominent social issue. In November, 29-year-old Brittany Maynard decided to end her life after receiving a prognosis of six months to live after being diagnosed with aggressive terminal brain cancer. Maynard decided that instead of allowing her mind to detriorate while the rest of her body was reasonably … Continue reading "Dying with Dignity"

In the news since 2010, the ethical dilemma of Jesse Shipley’s brain has reached headlines once again.  The Shipley family discovered their son’s missing organ after a high school field trip to the morgue resulted in students informing the family that Jesse’s brain was in a jar, labeled with his name.  Nearly a decade after … Continue reading "Buried Without A Brain: Should Shipley’s Family Have Been Informed?"

Shopping hangovers are just as real of a threat at this time of year as the drinking ones. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday just behind us (but Christmas still ahead), it can seem once again like everyone’s busy typing denouncements of consumerism with one hand while grabbing sweet deals and swiping plastic with the other. Amidst … Continue reading "Consumerism, Capitalism, and Personal Identity"

Hypocrisy is the practice of claiming to moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform. Hypocrites are usually disliked and seen as lacking moral fiber. Many people claim that nothing annoys them more about a person than hypocrisy. I believe this is because we as a race dislike criticism and to … Continue reading "Hypocrisy: The Universal Trait of Mankind"

This post originally appeared on December 4, 2014. When I was 8, I started ballet. I was a disciplined kid who took everything seriously, and dance quickly became a great passion of mine. But for many years I wasn’t that good; I felt I lacked the natural physical abilities that bless talented ballerinas. One day something … Continue reading "Is Envy Always Malicious? (Part Two)"

The other day I picked up an article from The Wall Street Journal that caught my attention for many reasons. I have always personally struggled with the concept of genetic testing. On the one hand, I think it is an amazing feat. Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis would grant me the ability to check and make sure my … Continue reading "Genetic Testing: A Right Not to Know"

When someone is being recorded, one is more aware of their actions; this applies to even police officers. With many cases of police brutality occurring throughout America, from Ferguson to the recorded death of Eric Garner to the beating of Luis Paulino in 2012, the question of technology and its role in decreasing police brutality … Continue reading "Technology and Police Brutality"

This post originally appeared on November 18, 2014 Imagine you check your email and find a congratulatory message from your boss announcing that your colleague has just been promoted. This colleague joined the company at approximately the same time as you did, and works in your sector. You were in line for the same promotion … Continue reading "Is Envy Always Malicious? (Part One)"

Dr. Sharon Crary, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at DePauw, has studied Ebola virus extensively and was part of the Center for Disease Control’s response team during the Ebola outbreak in Uganda in 2000. In this video, Dr. Crary discusses the Ebola virus as well as key pieces of advice that we should all know concerning the … Continue reading "Dr. Sharon Crary on the Ebola Outbreak"

Back when Microsoft Windows XP and Intel’s Pentium 4 Processor were technology du jour, not much was known about the origins of the raw minerals integral to the technology we depend on daily or about the horrendous labors that made possible the innovations of the day. Ethical concepts of blame and praise did not make … Continue reading "Look Inside: The Moral Implications of Personal Choice"

On Monday, President Obama announced that “a free and open Internet was as critical to Americans’ lives as electricity and telephone service” and should be regulated as such. This approach, called net neutrality, will prevent companies from slowing down certain content and allowing companies to pay for a fast lane to get data to consumers. If … Continue reading "A Free and Open Internet"

Apple’s new iWatch, expected to hit markets early in 2015, advances time keeping to a whole new level. Not only does the iWatch keep accurate global time, automatically adjusting to different time zones via satellite, it also tracks daily fitness and provides a way to respond to messages, calls and notifications more easily than we … Continue reading "WARNING: Technological Invasion"

One would certainly hope that, as far as environmental regulation goes, we are better off than we were fifty years ago. We would hope that novels like Rachel Carson’s ground-shifting Silent Spring, a work chronicling the dangers of the U.S. chemical industry, have made enough of an effect to prevent the author’s dystopian predictions from becoming a … Continue reading "Politicizing a Tragedy, 30 Years after Bhopal"

As the outbreak of Ebola enters its seventh month, the ethical dilemmas facing the world continue to increase. While the issue of experimental treatments remains unresolved (see my previous post on the topic), new problems have entered onto the stage. Treatment of Ebola in America, the media’s response, and the treatment of health care workers … Continue reading "The Ethics of an Epidemic"

As the Ebola outbreak has progressed, public discourse of the matter has reached a fever pitch. From announcements that airports will screen for the disease to coverage of the growing number of cases in Dallas, we are inundated with coverage of the outbreak. And as some call for the closure of borders and bans on … Continue reading "Misinformation in the Age of Ebola"

Government surveillance is a political hot topic, and Twitter has now taken its stand on it. The company has decided to sue the U.S. Government about a law that does not allow the company to release the number of national security requests for information it receives. The company argues that the government’s restriction of disclosure … Continue reading "Twitter, Transparency, and National Security"

Last week we published the abstract of Erik Wielenberg’s new book, Robust Ethics: The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Godless Normative Realism. In this guest post, Wielenberg, Professor of Philosophy at DePauw University, follows up with a more in-depth discussion of the book and some of the philosophers that have influenced his thinking on moral realism and God’s existence. In … Continue reading "Can moral laws exist without God? A brief introduction to “Robust Ethics”"