Free riders and pious sons - Why science research remains obligatory

Bioethics

Volumn 23, Issue 3, 2009, Pages 161-171

  Chan, Sarah ^a   Harris, John ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Duty to research

Indexed keywords

ETHICS; HUMAN; MEDICAL RESEARCH; MORALITY; PHILOSOPHY; REVIEW;

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH; HUMANS; MORAL OBLIGATIONS; PHILOSOPHY, MEDICAL;

EID: 58649115191     PISSN: 02699702     EISSN: 14678519     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8519.2008.00648.x     Document Type: Review

References (32)

1. I. Brassington. John Harris' argument for a duty to research. Bioethics 2007 21 (3 160 168.
2. John Harris. Scientific Research is a Moral Duty. J Med Ethics Vol. 31. No. 4 2005. 242 248.
3. J Med Ethics, Ibid., p. 160.
4. For example by permitting medical students to be present at and participate in examinations as part of their training.
5. Brassington, J Med Ethics, op. cit. note 1: 161.
6. Harris argues that non payment is in fact misguided in J Med Ethics, op. cit. note 2: 242-248.
7. We ignore the possibility of paying others to do our turn as research subjects, not least because this takes 'payment' far beyond Brassington's minimal supposed contribution via normal taxation.
8. Brassington, J Med Ethics, op. cit. note 1: 162.
9. J Med Ethics, 162. Ibid.
10. J Med Ethics, Ibid.: 163.
11. J Med Ethics, Ibid.: 162.
12. Although we feel strongly that it might do so.
13. J Med Ethics, Ibid.: 163.
14. J Med Ethics, Ibid., p. 164.
15. J. Harris. J Med Ethics, op. cit. note 2: 242.
16. John Harris. 1980. Violence and Responsibility. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
17. Violence and Responsibility, Ibid.: 165.
18. See Derek Parfit. 1984. Reasons and Persons. Oxford: Clarendon Press: 356 ff;
19. John Broome. Discounting The Future. Philos & Public Aff. 1994 23 (2 128 156.
20. Here the argument follows lines developed in: M. Quigley & J. Harris. Personal or Public Health? In International Public Health Policy and Ethics. M. Boylan, ed. Springer, in press.
21. J. Broome, International Public Health Policy and Ethics, op. cit. note 18.
22. One version of the categorical imperative and the most pertinent for us is '[A]ct as to treat humanity, whether in thine own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never as means only.' Kant, I., (1785) 2005, Groundwork for the metaphysics of morals, tr. Thomas Kingsmill Abbott, edited with revisions by Lara Denis. Peterborough, Ont.; Orchard Park, NY: Broadview Press.
23. Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Beings with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine. Oviedo 4.IV.1997. Article 21 'The human body and its parts shall not, as such, give rise to financial gain.'
24. J. Harris. Consent and end of life decisions. J Med Ethics 2003 29 (1 10 16.
25. J. Harris. What the principal objective of the NHS should really be. BMJ 1997 314 : 669 672.
26. As John Harris argued in Violence and Responsibility, op. cit. note 16.
27. This is discussed by John Harris in Enhancing Evolution Princeton University Press, Princeton and Oxford 2007 Chapter IV.
28. J. Harris. The Age-Indifference Principle and Equality. CQHE 2005 14 (1 93 99
29. J. Harris. Identity, Prudential Concern and Extended Lives: A response to Walter Glannon. Bioethics 2002 16 (3 284 291
30. J. Harris. Does Justice Require that we be Ageist? Bioethics 1994 8 (1 74 84.
31. We say no more about reciprocity here and ignore the question of whether or not there might be a duty to render evil for evil, 'an eye for an eye', either in the case of individual reciprocity or in the case of institutional action.
32. Provided that the objective is accomplished, it does not matter how the obligation is discharged. For example, a health care system can be privately or publicly funded, it does not matter which as long as it fulfils the necessary role. The type of institution we choose to establish is irrelevant, provided it does what it is supposed to do.