Ramanell Center.

September 2023 Bioethics Workshop

Join us September 29, 30, October 1, 2023, for the weekend-long event featuring presentations and discussions by guest speakers and Romanell fellows. Jerome C. Wakefield (NYU) delivers the keynote, “Boorse’s Biostatistical Account of Pathology vs. Wakefield’s Harmful Dysfunctional Account of Disorder".  

LOCATION
Park Hall 141, UB North Campus

SCHEDULE 

Friday September 29

6:00-8:00 pm Keynote Address #1: Jerry Wakefield (NYU), Topic 
"Boorse’s Biostatistical Account of Pathology vs. Wakefield’s Harmful Dysfunctional Account of Disorder"

Saturday September 30

9:00-9:30 Breakfast

9:30-10:50 Nick Colgrove (Augusta University) “Theoretical Virtues and the Abortion Debate: A Comprehensive Method for Resolving Disagreement.”

10:50-11:00 Break

11:00-12:20 David Shoemaker (Cornell) and Shaun Nichols (Cornell) “Personal Identity in the Wild: Identity Sourced Reasons in Bioethics.”

12:30-2:30 Lunch

2:40-4:00 John Martin Fischer (University of California Riverside) “The Good of Immortality”

4:00-4:15 Break

4:15-6:15 Keynote Address #2: Jerry Wakefield (NYU), Topic "Bob Spitzer's attempts to define mental disorder and Depathologize Homosexuality"

7:15-9:30 Dinner

Sunday October 1

9:00-11:00 am Jerry Wakefield (NYU) Working Brunch (Marriot Hotel)

For more information or advanced copies of the papers contact David Hershenov at dh25@buffalo.edu

ROMANELL CENTER BIOETHICS WORKSHOPS

The Center for Clinical Ethics and Humanities in Health Care, established at the University at Buffalo in 1994, is now the Romanell Center for Clinical Ethics and the Philosophy of Medicine. The name change honors the 2003 testimentary gift bestowed by Edna Romanell, while reflecting a focus on bioethics in today's complex health care concerns. As a multi-disciplinary center with a long tradition of coordinating academic activities, the Center is poised to expand collaborative research and experience-based learning at UB to better serve the communities of Western New York, Southern Ontario, and borders beyond our own.

Recent Article

Philosopht.
American Journal of Bioethics 23 publishes article by Romanell Fellow

James Cordeiro: “On the Moral Permissibility of Elective Ectogestation” American Journal of Bioethics 23 (5):116-118 (2023)

The advent of artificial womb technology (AWT) raises serious moral questions, many capably framed and reviewed in De Bie et. al.’s (2022) focal article on the ethics of AWT and fetonates. Cordeiro’s commentary  addresses the moral permissibility of “elective ectogestation” (EE) which  receives sparse treatment in this otherwise admirable review. 

EE refers to fetal transfer to an artificial womb during in vivo gestation at the mother’s request for non-medically indicated reasons, such as reduction of perceived burdens of gestation or earlier resumption of social life and careers. Cordeiro’s argument against its moral permissibility responds to recent arguments for its permissibility on grounds of maternal autonomy (e.g., Nelson, 2022) or as part of a regulatory compromise (Rasanen, 2022).  Continue reading.

New and Noteworthy

  • Oxford University Press to publish book by Neil Feit
    11/30/22
    Neil Feit's forthcoming book, Bad Things: On the Nature and Normative Role of Harm, will be published in 2022 by Oxford University Press. Feit provides a sustained defense of the counterfactual comparative account of harm, or CCA. 
  • Oxford UP's 'Best of Philosophy' includes papers by RC Fellows Phil Reed and Jim Delaney
    8/9/22
    Oxford University Press celebrates another year of excellence in philosophy research with the 'Best of Philosophy' collection. It brings together the most read content published in its' philosophy portfolio in 2021, offering a free selection of journal articles and book chapters from the year's most popular publications. The Oxford UP 'Best of Philosophy'collection includes papers by Romanell Center Fellows Phil Reed and Jim Delaney. 

  • TMB Journal publishes paper by Robert Kelly
    9/7/22
    Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics (TMB)  Journal has published the paper, "Towards a Dispositionalist (and Unifying) Account of Addiction", by RCCE Fellow Robert Kelly. Paper Abstract: Addiction theorists have often utilized the metaphor of the blind men and the elephant to illustrate the complex nature of addiction and the varied methodological approaches to studying it. A common purported upshot is skeptical in nature: due to these complexities, it is not possible to offer a unifying account of addiction. I think that this is a mistake. The elephant is real – there is a there there. Here, I defend a dispositionalist account of addiction as the systematic disposition to fail to control one’s desires to engage in certain types of behaviors. I explain this position, defend the inclusion of desires and impaired control, and flesh out the notion of systematicity central to my account. I then try to show how my dispositionalist framework can unify the disparate, seemingly incompatible accounts of addiction (and their respective methodological approaches). I close with a brief plan to extend and implement my account.
See All

People

  • Catherine Nolan
    6/14/21
    Catherine Nolan is currently working on issues in the intersection of metaphysics and bioethics. She is particularly interested in applying the concepts and arguments of the Christian metaphysical tradition to contemporary problems.  Her dissertation, entitled “The Ethics and Metaphysics of Vital Organ Donation,” was a defense of the claim that death is a metaphysical event, unable to be determined purely scientifically. This makes the diagnosis of death much more uncertain. If we attempt to justify vital organ donation by claiming that the donor is dead, we are often being misleading or dishonest. Instead, she suggests that we should focus on not killing the donor, treating those who may be dead as though they are still alive. 
  • Barry Smith
    3/18/21
    As an undergraduate, Barry Smith studied mathematics and philosophy at the University of Oxford, before earning his Ph.D. from the University of Manchester in 1976. Currently, he holds the position of Julian Park Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Computer Science, and Neurology at the University of Buffalo in New York.
  • Timothy J. Madigan
    4/2/20
    Timothy J. Madigan, Ph.D, is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York, and the founder of its Irish Studies Program. Madigan’s areas of interest include Medical Ethics, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion, and Popular Culture and Philosophy. He is the President of the Bertrand Russell Society and the former President of the Northeast Popular Culture Association. Madigan was the first editor of the Romanell Center’s “Bioethics Bulletin.”  
  • Harvey Berman
    4/2/23
    Harvey Berman is a pharmacologist responsible for teaching Doctors of Pharmacy (PharmD) and of Medicine (MD) in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. His teaching and research interests are in adverse drug interactions, pharmacogenomics, ethics of drug clinical trials, pain palliation and geriatric pharmacology.
  • David Hershenov, Director
    2/17/23
    David Hershenov, PhD, is a professor of philosophy at the University at Buffalo and director of the Romanell Center. His earlier research was focused upon issues at the intersection of personal identity and bioethics. His recent research interests are in the philosophy of medicine.
See All

Showcase

Jack Freer, Artist

Since retiring from clinical medicine, Jack Freer has been spending more time working on pastel painting. This image depicts a scene in Florence during a 1629-31 outbreak of bubonic plague.

JOIN OUR LISTSERV
We invite you to join the Romanell Center ListServe to receive timely announcements about our events, zoom lectures, conferences, workshops, blog updates, upcoming activities, and much more. To join our ListServ, please send your name, affiliation (if any), and your email address to:  David Hershenov, dh25@buffalo.edu