Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
Bioethics is the study of the moral implications of new and emerging medical technologies and looks to answer questions such as selling organs, euthanasia and whether should we clone people. The series consists of a series of interviews by leading bioethics academics and is aimed at individuals looking to explore often difficult and confusing questions surrounding medical ethics. The series lays out the issue in a clear and precise way and looks to show all sides of the debate.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Bioethics debates • neuroscience and brain chemistry in moral judgment • responsibility and mental disorder • organ sales and transplantation • healthcare resource allocation • consent and trust in medicine • genetic engineering, intelligence and designer babies • life-and-death decisions • moral status, embryos and abortionThis podcast explores contemporary bioethics through interviews with academic philosophers and other scholars, focusing on how new medical and biological capabilities reshape moral questions and public policy. Across the episodes, discussions examine what scientific findings—especially from neuroscience and psychiatry—can and cannot contribute to ethical reasoning. The show considers whether facts about human psychology or brain chemistry help explain moral judgments, and whether emerging interventions could influence behavior in ways that raise concerns about autonomy, responsibility, and accountability.
A recurring theme is how societies should make decisions when technologies create new options or pressures: from genetic engineering that could enhance traits such as intelligence or empathy, to reproductive choices that allow selection or modification of characteristics in future children. The podcast also addresses classic medical ethics dilemmas around life and death, including the boundaries between killing and letting die, decision-making for incapacitated patients, and the role of clinicians in end-of-life care.
Other episodes focus on institutional ethics and governance, such as how limited healthcare resources should be allocated, what kinds of consent are appropriate for treatment, and how trust should function between patients, doctors, and regulators. The series also takes up contested issues in bodily autonomy and markets, including whether individuals should be permitted to sell organs to address shortages.
Throughout, the podcast emphasizes clarifying arguments, defining concepts like moral status, and presenting multiple sides of debates that arise when medicine and biotechnology challenge existing norms.
| Episodes: |
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Neuroscience Can Tell Us About Morality 2012-Feb-03 19 minutes |
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Brain Chemistry and Moral Decision-Making 2012-Jan-04 16 minutes |
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Responsibility 2011-Dec-01 16 minutes |
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Selling Organs 2011-Nov-01 18 minutes |
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Bio-Ethics Bites 2011-Oct-03 20 minutes |
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Trust 2011-Sep-01 18 minutes |
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Status Quo Bias 2011-Aug-01 19 minutes |
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Life and Death 2011-Jul-04 16 minutes |
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Moral Status 2011-May-31 18 minutes |
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Designer Babies 2011-May-31 21 minutes |