Project MUSE®: Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/107
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal.daily12026-05-19T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 1 (1991) through current issueLatest Articles: Kennedy Institute of Ethics JournalTWOProject MUSE®Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal1086-32491054-6863Latest articles in Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal. Feed provided by Project MUSE®The Bioethics of Space Exploration: Human Enhancement and Gene Editing in Future Space Missions by Konrad Szocik (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987082
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I'll admit that, when I first agreed to review Konrad Szocik's new book, I hoped that I'd be reading about medical experimentation on aliens. I was disappointed, but that was my fault: he's clear in the book's subtitle that this is a book about human enhancement and gene editing in space missions—so, perhaps a little less exciting than vivisection of aliens, but less fantastical and a lot more useful for a future that's likely not too distant. What I was thinking of, he explains in the first chapter, is "astrobioethics" not "space bioethics" which is what his book is about (8). Whereas the former is concerned with the ethical challenges associated with interactions between humans and extraterrestrial life, space
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-19T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/107/image/coversmallThe Bioethics of Space Exploration: Human Enhancement and Gene Editing in Future Space Missions by Konrad Szocik (review)2026-04-06text/htmlen-USThe Bioethics of Space Exploration: Human Enhancement and Gene Editing in Future Space Missions by Konrad Szocik (review)2026-04-062026TWOProject MUSE®151162026-05-19T00:00:00-05:002026-04-06The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987083
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In The Age of Diagnosis, Irish neurologist Dr. Suzanne O'Sullivan explores the potential downsides of our expanded ability—and willingness—to apply medical diagnoses across a broad range of human suffering. Few people would dispute that rising rates of diagnosis can often be a good thing. In many cases, we're diagnosing more people because previously neglected populations are receiving the care and attention they need, or because advanced imaging and more sophisticated testing make it easier to identify specific pathologies, or because efforts at raising awareness of a condition (either among medical professionals or among the general population) are succeeding. And in many cases, receiving a diagnosis can be
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-19T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/107/image/coversmallThe Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (review)2026-04-06text/htmlen-USThe Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O'Sullivan (review)2026-04-062026TWOProject MUSE®376992026-05-19T00:00:00-05:002026-04-06Editor's Note, June 2025
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987085
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This issue of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal features three articles that explore the theme of the epistemic and social complexity of decision-making under nonideal conditions—conditions involving unknowable outcomes, unequal power, and human vulnerability. Stephen John asks when it is appropriate to invite would-be patients to undergo screenings and optional interventions with complex and indeterminate mixtures of possible harms and benefits. Laura Specker Sullivan examines the important feminist concept of relational autonomy and explores how adopting a relational autonomy perspective can, under nonideal conditions of oppression and compromised capacity, open the door to the paternalistic domination of
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-19T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/107/image/coversmallEditor's Note, June 20252026-04-06text/htmlen-USEditor's Note, June 20252026-04-062026TWOProject MUSE®116582026-05-19T00:00:00-05:002026-04-06Ambiguous Invitations: Nonmaleficence, Uncertainty Attitudes and Public Health Policy
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987086
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Consider two paradigm examples of public health programs: routine screening for early-stage cancer and vaccination against infectious diseases. Both interventions are often controversial. Typically, these controversies center around questions of evidence: many within the medical community worry that the evidence basis for the effectiveness of screening is weak (Welch and Black 2010; McCartney 2012). Similarly, vaccination skeptics raise concerns about whether we can be certain that vaccinations are safe (Irzik and Kurtulmus 2019). A second shared feature is that these interventions are typically initiated by invitations; through letters inviting you to attend a screening appointment or text messages inviting you to
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-19T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/107/image/coversmallAmbiguous Invitations: Nonmaleficence, Uncertainty Attitudes and Public Health Policy2026-04-06text/htmlen-USAmbiguous Invitations: Nonmaleficence, Uncertainty Attitudes and Public Health Policy2026-04-062026TWOProject MUSE®1276842026-05-19T00:00:00-05:002026-04-06Relational Autonomy in Nonideal Medical Decision-Making
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987087
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Autonomy, a concept that describes the ability to be self-directing, plays a central role in medical decision-making in the United States. In the clinical context, whether a patient is determined by clinicians to have the capacity to make an informed decision affects her control of her health care. As a field, American bioethics has focused on good and bad reasons for making various choices. Yet bioethicists have increasingly recognized the insufficiency of this framing for dealing with issues of social and structural injustice.This is perhaps most apparent in medical decision-making with individuals from marginalized groups, where policy and practice often settle on one of two poles: either individual choice is
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-19T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/107/image/coversmallRelational Autonomy in Nonideal Medical Decision-Making2026-04-06text/htmlen-USRelational Autonomy in Nonideal Medical Decision-Making2026-04-062026TWOProject MUSE®1657522026-05-19T00:00:00-05:002026-04-06Assessing the Liberty-Based Case Against Pandemic Lockdowns
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987088
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Most liberal political theories accord a "special status" to individual liberty, such that liberty infringement can render a policy illegitimate or unjustifiable. Public health ethicists, likewise, generally attach great importance to individual liberty.1 For instance, an oft-endorsed requirement is that policies should infringe liberty as little as possible to achieve their aims.2 During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, many liberal governments implemented pandemic response policies that restricted individual liberties. This paper focuses on a core subset of these restrictive policies, including stay-at-home orders, school and business closures, travel restrictions, and gathering restrictions—which we will
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-19T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/107/image/coversmallAssessing the Liberty-Based Case Against Pandemic Lockdowns2026-04-06text/htmlen-USAssessing the Liberty-Based Case Against Pandemic Lockdowns2026-04-062026TWOProject MUSE®1316562026-05-19T00:00:00-05:002026-04-06A Reply to Bernstein, Jayaram, and Hutler's "Assessing the Liberty-Based Case Against Pandemic Lockdowns"
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987089
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In "Assessing the Liberty-Based Case against Pandemic Lockdowns," (Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, June 2025), Justin Bernstein, Athmeya Jayaram, and Brian Hutler argue that the "epistemic argument" against lockdowns that Jason Brennan, Chris Surprenant, and I advanced is "inconclusive or incomplete" (abstract). While we appreciate the engagement, the authors' critique relies on a "strong implication" (Bernstein, private correspondence) that they project onto our work—namely, that our standards would paralyze government action in a crisis. This assessment fails for three reasons: we specifically denied this implication; it ignores the specific "precautionary window"; and it ignores the practical data-gathering
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-19T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/107/image/coversmallA Reply to Bernstein, Jayaram, and Hutler's "Assessing the Liberty-Based Case Against Pandemic Lockdowns"2026-04-06text/htmlen-USA Reply to Bernstein, Jayaram, and Hutler's "Assessing the Liberty-Based Case Against Pandemic Lockdowns"2026-04-062026TWOProject MUSE®267562026-05-19T00:00:00-05:002026-04-06Coming to America: Bioethical Training at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the Establishment of Medical Ethics in Germany
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/987090
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On June 29, 1988, the movie Coming to America was released in the US and became an immediate box office success. Conceived by and starring Eddie Murphy, the film tells the story of a prince from the made-up African nation of Zamunda who, looking for independence and true love, finds both in the New York City borough of Queens—not only, as a consequence of his longing, coming to America but becoming an American. About two months later, the movie was released in West Germany as Der Prinz aus Zamunda (The Prince from Zamunda). This choice of reformulating the title represented a very different emphasis, apparently more fitting for the German audience. Instead of highlighting what Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul, in
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-19T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/107/image/coversmallComing to America: Bioethical Training at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the Establishment of Medical Ethics in Germany2026-04-06text/htmlen-USComing to America: Bioethical Training at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics and the Establishment of Medical Ethics in Germany2026-04-062026TWOProject MUSE®1232972026-05-19T00:00:00-05:002026-04-06