Posts by: Jessica Flanigan
Effective Altruism for BHL’s
By Jessica Flanigan On May 28, 2013 · 71 Comments · In Current Events, Social Justice, Uncategorized
In Peter Singer’s new TED talk, he tries to answer the question of how to give most effectively. The talk starts with a short summary of his famous argument for giving. The argument can be stated like this: 1) “If it is in our power to prevent something very bad from [...]
Patents, Property, and Genes
By Jessica Flanigan On April 16, 2013 · 20 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Current Events, Rights Theory
Yesterday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about whether human genes may be patented. The case centers on a dispute between a group of researchers and patient advocates and Myriad genetics. Myriad is a company that holds patents on genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) that correlate for a significantly increased risk of breast and [...]
While catching up on the recent Cato Unbound conversations, I just read through Howard Ball’s lead essay and Philip Nitschke’s response about physician assisted death. Ball argues that a terminally ill patient’s interest in autonomy or the alleviation of suffering can justify granting her legal access to deadly drugs. In these [...]
For those just tuning in, the latest libertarian internet dust up surrounds Julie Borowski’s video about why there are not more libertarian women. In it, she argues that women are not libertarians in part because libertarianism is kinda dorky and women care more than men about acceptance. When I first saw the video, [...]
Mummies, Rights, and the Moral Community
By Jessica Flanigan On October 31, 2012 · 10 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Current Events, Uncategorized
Happy Halloween! In the ::spirit:: of the season I thought I’d write up a little guide to the ethical treatment of some of the creatures you may encounter tonight, including mummies, zombies and ghosts (oh my!)
First consider mummies, which are basically rich dead people with very particular wills. Should we respect the choices of [...]
Welfare: Who Cares?
By Jessica Flanigan On September 29, 2012 · 31 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Consequentialism, Libertarianism, Liberty, Rights Theory
Some BHL types seem to think that welfare matters for its own sake. Recently, Kevin suggested that rights are justified by an appeal to the welfare interests they protect. On his telling, classical liberals and welfare liberals agree about the welfarist interests that merit protection, but they just disagree about how we should [...]
Over at Philosophy etc, Bradley Gabbard argues that a widespread intuition about the trolley problem can justify compulsory aid to the global poor. Here is the trolley problem:
A runaway trolley is on course to kill five innocent people. I can switch the trolley to another track, saving the five but [...]
Freedom and Work
By Jessica Flanigan On July 4, 2012 · 30 Comments · In Libertarianism, Liberty, Rights Theory, Uncategorized
Crooked Timber just posted an article that discusses the posts I’ve written about the workplace. I enjoyed reading it (also- these follow ups) and I’ve been thinking about where we disagree. One charge is that I either am a garden-variety liberal or I am not [...]
Freedom and the Moral Powers
By Jessica Flanigan On June 14, 2012 · 25 Comments · In Academic Philosophy, Symposium on Free Market Fairness
[Editor's Note: This essay is part of a symposium on John Tomasi's Free Market Fairness. For an introduction to the symposium, click here. For a list of all posts in the symposium, click here.]
Samuel Freeman is skeptical that economic liberties can be basic. He writes, “for rights and liberties to be [...]
Is Economic Liberty Harmful?
By Jessica Flanigan On June 12, 2012 · 35 Comments · In Exploitation, Liberalism, Libertarianism, Rights Theory, Social Justice, Symposium on Free Market Fairness
[Editor's Note: This essay is part of a symposium on John Tomasi's Free Market Fairness. For an introduction to the symposium, click here. For a list of all posts in the symposium, click here.]
Elizabeth Anderson argues that economic liberty is importantly different from other basic liberties because its exercise is often [...]
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