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Browsing by Author "Gorin, Moti, advisor"

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    A sophisticated logic of enhancement: a disability-sensitive, welfare-maximizing stance in philosophy of medicine and procreative ethics
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Law, David Benjamin, author; Gorin, Moti, advisor; McShane, Katie, committee member; Hickey, Matthew, committee member
    Julain Savulescu and Guy Kahane have developed a compelling yet controversial set of arguments that provide a theoretical and action-guiding grounding for the fields of medicine and procreative ethics. In medicine, they argue that medicine should do much more than merely treat patients; instead, it should "enhance" them to enjoy the greatest possible welfare. They argue that enhancement is justified by the same moral principles that justify treating patients in a medical setting. Similarly, in procreative ethics, they contend that when pre-natal selection is available, a similar welfare-maximizing principle should inform what children we should bring into existence. They argue that the "most advantaged child" among those that could be selected ought to be selected. There is something deeply compelling about these arguments but also deeply concerning; we should, of course, want the greatest welfare for ourselves, others, and our children, but we should also worry that accomplishing these ends via medicine and procreative selection may be using inappropriate means, relay implicit prejudices, or even constitute a kind of eugenics. In this thesis, I interrogate Savulescu and Kahane's arguments for the logic of enhancement and argue that a compelling and largely cohesive view emerges that has significant implications for the philosophy of medicine and procreative ethics. The view is, however, imperfect. Several adjustments and compromises must be made to make the view fully cohesive and to accommodate the highly compelling arguments made by disability rights theorists. In suggesting these adjustments and compromises, I ultimately defend the logic of enhancement from its most potent objections and contend that it is a highly illuminating view for ethical and theoretical work in the philosophy of medicine and procreative ethics.
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    On the concept of freedom: freedom's relation to ethics and an application of a Collingwoodian framework
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Stoncius, Alec, author; Rollin, Bernard, advisor; Gorin, Moti, advisor; Hamid, Idris, committee member; Delahunty, Gerald, committee member
    In this project, I will begin by exploring the conceptual relations to the concept of free will, namely the relation of ethics. I will argue that any conception of normative ethics is dependent on a conception of free will and free action. Beginning with this section, it is my hope to convince the reader that the free-will debate has genuine stakes, and providing an account of free will is necessary to the preservation of ethics. The second half will be an attempt to preserve the concept of ethics by articulating a theory of free will that uses the metaphysics of R.G. Collingwood. The application of Collingwood's metaphysics begins with the phenomenology of concepts as the foundation for thought, and seeks to develop these concepts through a scale of forms. The purpose for this application is to overcome the antinomy of the free-will debate by reconciling opposing concepts (i.e. "freedom" and "determinism") into one landscape of understanding.
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    Radical enhancement as a moral status de-enhancer
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Gray, Jesse, author; Gorin, Moti, advisor; MacKenzie, Matthew, committee member; Rhodes, Matthew, committee member
    Human enhancement has worried many thinkers. Some have focused on the potential harms that may befall us, should we walk the path of enhancement. One such harm may be that enhancements serve to undermine our unique human dignity. I argue that the concept of human dignity is better replaced by that of moral status. Others have worried that radical enhancements—those enhancements that give us abilities greatly outside our species typical functioning will lead to a new moral status. I argue that the sorts of enhancements we are likely to seek, namely direct mental state control, will give us reason to think the enhanced will have a moral status subordinate to our own. Finally, I argue that despite the radically enhanced not existing, we still have obligations to create them. I call this the competing known identity problem. Assuming some persons will exist in the future, we have reasons to create the best versions of these persons.
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    Why we should talk about animals when we talk about antibiotics
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Levi, Ashley, author; Rollin, Bernard E., advisor; Gorin, Moti, advisor; Kesel, Martha Lynne, committee member
    Antibiotic use in livestock has been accused of playing a major role in the emerging public health crisis of antibiotic resistance in human beings. While antibiotics are important medical tools that help to fight bacterial infections, informed scientific opinion suggests that if farmers continue to use them sub-therapeutically in animal feeds, they will pose a grave threat to human health. While this is an important issue, and one that has been taken up by many, what is also noteworthy, and what I take to be an important issue, are the ways in which the sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics in animal feeds poses a grave threat to animal health as well. Dr. Bernard Rollin, bioethicist and distinguished professor of philosophy, animal sciences, and biomedical sciences at Colorado State University brings to our awareness that antibiotics are one of the most influential technological tools that have enabled us to crowd large amounts of animals in very small spaces for profit at the expensive of their welfare. Therefore, I object to the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics not only because it affects human health, but insofar as it also promotes or makes possible farming practices that significantly harm animals. In what follows, I wish to identify and bring to awareness how the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics is necessary for the maintenance of the larger practice of industrial farming (i.e., factory farming). Further, if we give up such antibiotic use, not only might we see improvements in human health issues with regard to antibiotic resistance, but, we might well see better animal husbandry, welfare, and thus a more morally defensible agriculture.