Moral Status, Harm, and the Ethics of Procreation

I defend the moral permissibility of early abortion and explain what duties we do and don’t have against harming fetuses and against harming in creating.

“The Ever Conscious View and the Contingency of Moral Status,” in Rethinking Moral Status, Stephen Clarke, ed., Oxford, forthcoming. (Abstract)

“Gamete Donation as a Laudable Moral Mistake,” in Oxford Handbook of Population Ethics, Gustaf Arrhenius, Krister Bykvist, Tim Campbell, and Elizabeth Finneron-Burns, eds., Oxford, forthcoming. (Abstract)

“Eating Meat as a Morally Permissible Mistake,” in Philosophy Comes to Dinner, in Philosophy Comes to Dinner, Andrew Chignell, Terence Cuneo, and Matt Halteman, eds., Routledge, 2015. (Abstract)

“Transformative Experiences and Reliance on Moral Testimony,” Res Philosophica, 2015. (Abstract)

“Review of The Limits of Kindness by Caspar Hare,” Ethics, 2015. (Abstract)

“The Moral Significance of Animal Pain and Animal Death,” in The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics, Tom L. Beauchamp and R.G. Frey, eds., Oxford, 2011. (Abstract)

“Critical Study of Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming Into Existence by David Benatar,” Nous, 2009. (Abstract)

“‘I’ll Be Glad I Did It’ Reasoning and the Significance of Future Desires,” Philosophical Perspectives, 2009. (Abstract)

“Harming as Causing Harm,” in Harming Future Persons, Melinda Roberts and David Wasserman, eds., Springer, 2009. (Abstract)

“How is the Ethics of Stem Cell Research Different from the Ethics of Abortion?” Metaphilosophy, 2007. (Abstract)

“Sacred Mountains and Beloved Fetuses: Can Loving or Worshipping Something Give It Moral Status?” Philosophical Studies, 2007. (Abstract)

“Can We Harm and Benefit in Creating?” Philosophical Perspectives, 2004. (Abstract) 

“The Potentiality Problem,” Philosophical Studies, 2003. (Abstract)

“Creation Ethics: The Moral Status of Early Fetuses and the Ethics of Abortion,” Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1999. (Abstract)