This book brings together a large and diverse collection of philosophical papers addressing a wide variety of public policy issues. Topics covered range from long-standing subjects of debate such as abortion, punishment, and freedom of expression, to more recent controversies such as those over gene editing, military drones, and statues honoring Confederate soldiers. Part I focuses on the criminal justice system, including issues that arise before, during, and after criminal trials. Part II covers matters of national defense and sovereignty, including chapters on military ethics, terrorism, and immigration. Part III, which explores political participation, manipulation, and standing, includes discussions of issues involving voting rights, the use of nudges, and claims of equal status. Part IV covers a variety of issues involving freedom of speech and expression. Part V deals with questions of justice and inequality. Part VI considers topics involving bioethics and biotechnology. Part VII is devoted to beginning of life issues, such as cloning and surrogacy, and end of life issues, such as assisted suicide and organ procurement. Part VIII navigates emerging environmental issues, including treatments of the urban environment and extraterrestrial environments.
Table of Content
1 Introduction: Philosophers and Public Policy
Part I Crime, Punishment, and the Law
2 Pretrial Detention and Moral Agency
3 Why Brain Images (Probably) Should Not Be Used in US Criminal Trials
4 A Defense of Jury Nullification
5 Mandatory Minimums and the War on Drugs
6 Criminal Punishment and Free Will
7 The Promise of Neuroscience for Law: Hope or Hype?
8 Feminism, Violence, and the State
Part II War, Terrorism, and National Sovereignty
9 Military Psychological Operations: Ethics and Policy Considerations
10 Against Interrogational Torture: Upholding a Troubled Taboo
11 The Use of Lethal Drones in the War on Terror
12 The Myth of Senseless Violence and the Problem of Terrorism
13 A Defense of Open Borders
14 Immigration Enforcement and Fairness to Would-Be Immigrants
15 Toward a Nonideal Approach to Immigration Justice
Part III Political Participation, Manipulation, and Standing
16 An Ethical Assessment of Actual Voter Behavior
17 Should Children Have the Right to Vote?
18 Norms, Nudges, and Autonomy
19 Nudges and Other Moral Technologies in the Context of Power: Assigning and Accepting Responsibility
20 Public Policy and the Administrative Evil of Special Education
21 Manufacturing Monsters: Dehumanization and Public Policy
22 Is Religion Special? More Likely Than Not!
23 Animals and Political Standing
Part IV Freedom of Speech and Expression
24 The Liberty of Thought and Discussion: Restatement and Implications
25 Free Speech and Discrimination in the Cake Wars
26 Whose Public? The Stakes of Citizens United
27 The Ethics of Racist Monuments
28 Free to Inquire: The Evolution-Creationism Controversy as a Test Case in Equal Time and Free Speech
29 Pedophilia and Computer-Generated Child Pornography
30 Does the ADA Discriminate Against Deaf People?
Part V Justice and Inequality
31 Principles of Distributive Justice
32 When Equality Matters
33 Feminism, Gender Inequality, and Public Policy
34 Understanding Effective Altruism and Its Challenges
35 Economic Rent, Rent-Seeking Behavior, and the Case of Privatized Incarceration
36 Accounting for Intrinsic Values in the Federal Student Loan System
37 Borrowed Knowledge: Pedagogy and Student Debt in the Neoliberal University
Part VI Bioethics and Biotechnology
38 Challenging the Therapy/Enhancement Distinction in CRISPR Gene Editing
39 CRISPR and the Ethics of Gene Drive in Mosquitoes
40 Enhancement and Cheating: Implications for Policy in Sport
41 Sexual Orientation Minority Rights and High-Tech Conversion Therapy
42 Why Policymaking Should Not Be Based on Evolutionary Accounts of Human Behavior
43 Exploitation and International Clinical Research: The Disconnect Between Goals and Policy
44 Mandating Data Exclusivity for Pharmaceuticals Through International Agreements: A Fair Idea?
45 Big Data: Ethical Considerations
46 Professionalism and the Ethics of Conscientious Objection Accommodation in Medicine
47 American Pragmatism, Disability, and the Politics of Resilience in Mental Health Education
Part VII Beginning and End of Life Issues
48 Human Cloning: Stereotypes, Public Policy, and the Law
49 The Metaphysics of Surrogacy
50 Legislating Pain Capability: Sentience and the Abortion Debate
51 Welcoming the Unborn: Toward a Politics of Inclusion
52 Palliation and Medically Assisted Dying: A Case Study in the Use of Slippery Slope Arguments in Public Policy
53 “I Support the Right to Die. You Go First”: Bias and Physician-Assisted Suicide
54 Organ Procurement: The Ethical Obligation to Release Organs
Part VIII Environmental Ethics and Environmental Problems
55 Women, Land and Eco-Justice
56 A Rights-Based Conception of the Precautionary Principle
57 Roles for Socially Engaged Philosophy of Science in Environmental Policy
58 The Acceleration of Global Warming as Crime Against Humanity: A Moral Case for Fossil Fuel Divestment
59 Environmental Civil Disobedience
60 Reliance Structures: How Urban Public Policy Shapes Human Agency
61 Toward a Galactic Common Good: Space Exploration Ethics
About the author
David Boonin is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Values and Social Policy at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He is the author ofThomas Hobbes and the Science of Moral Virtue (1994),
A Defense of Abortion (2003),
The Problem of Punishment (2008)
Should Race Matter? (2011), and
The Non-Identity Problem and the Ethics of Future People (2014). He is also the co-editor, with Graham Oddie, of the popular textbook
What’s Wrong?: Applied Ethicists and Their Critics (2004).
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