In a conversation in Interview magazine, the painter Manuel Solano reflects on the shifts in their artistic practice after going blind at 26 years old. Their first museum show came after this devel...

In their article describing the demographics and views of bioethicists in the U.S. today, Pierson et al. cite the calls to recognize the “moral and professional responsibility of those working in b...

Deontology has fallen out of favor among bioethicists. According to Pierson and colleagues’ (2024) “Bioethicists Today”, deontology is now the least accepted major approach to normative theory, tra...

Pierson et al. (2024) helpfully catalogue the views and demographics of American Bioethicists, as well as how those differ both within the field and with the broader public. As they note, such info...

Pierson et al. (2024) conducted a survey of American bioethicists and compared their bioethical views to those of the general U.S. population. Recently, we also conducted a survey of researchers wo...

Recent calls to address racism in bioethics reflect a sense of urgency to mitigate the lethal effects of a lack of action. While the field was catalyzed largely in response to pivotal events deeply rooted in racism and other structures of oppression embedded in research and health care, it has failed to center racial justice in its scholarship, pedagogy, advocacy, and practice, and neglected to integrate anti-racism as a central consideration. Academic bioethics programs play a key role in determining the (...) field’s norms and practices, including methodologies, funding priorities, and professional networks that bear on equity, inclusion, and epistemic justice. This article describes recommendations from the Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Task Force commissioned by the Association of Bioethics Program Directors to prioritize and strengthen anti-racist practices in bioethics programmatic endeavors and to evaluate and develop specific goals to advance REDI. (shrink)

Bioethicists’ views diverge public opinion on various ethical issues, particularly in healthcare. For instance, bioethicists generally oppose payment for organs and advocate for preventing death at any age, whereas the public is more supportive of organ payment and prioritizing younger patients. I offer four arguments on how best to view this divergence. (a) Bioethicists’ specialized training, objectivity, and reliance on research often lead to views that differ from those of the public, which may be less informed and more influenced by (...) biases. (b) Further, divergence between expert and public opinion is a normal and sometimes necessary aspect of bioethics. Divergence can lead to more informed and progressive ethical practices. (c) While public input is valuable, achieving meaningful engagement is difficult due to varying values, risk perceptions, and socioeconomic circumstances. Effective bioethics would balance expert knowledge with public input, aiming for policies that are both scientifically sound and democratically legitimate. (d) Maintaining public trust in bioethics does not require full alignment with public opinion. Instead, bioethicists should focus on educating the public and incorporating informed public perspectives into their analysis and recommendations. (shrink)

While acknowledging the tremendous work that went into the Views in Bioethics Survey (VIBeS) project, my initial reaction to Pierson et al.’s work was … skeptical. Not because the research wasn’t w...

Pierson et al. (2024) surveyed 824 U.S. bioethicists on a wide range of ethical issues, including topics related to abortion, medical aid in dying, and resource allocation, among others. They conte...

Pierson et al. (2024) report that most American bioethicists hold relatively progressive views compared to the public and are not demographically representative of the communities they serve. Furth...

In their examination of survey findings, Pierson et al. (2024) illuminate critical insights into the current composition and philosophical perspectives of the bioethics field. Their study addresses...

In “Bioethicists Today: Results of the Views in Bioethics Survey,” Pierson et al. (2024) provide a valuable snapshot of the normative commitments and demographic backgrounds of 824 U.S. bioethicist...

In “Bioethicists Today: Results of the Views in Bioethics Survey (VIBeS),” Pierson and colleagues describe the results of a survey inquiring into bioethicsts’ views on normative issues (Pierson et...

In light of this empirical study of who bioethicists are and what their values are and then answering the question “What is the future of bioethics?,” we think it’s important to place this question...

Bioethicists have long debated whether we can properly claim to possess a more correct view than the general public, of moral right and wrong. Notwithstanding such debate, it appears that a fairly...

In the VIBeS study, Pierson et al. (2024) observe that the views of U.S. bioethicists do not align with views of clinicians or with broader U.S. public opinion. They also note that the bioethics co...

Volume 24, Issue 10, October 2024, Page 37-40.

Volume 24, Issue 10, October 2024, Page 53-57.

Coverage error is an important type of error that occurs in survey studies when there is a mismatch between the target population and the sampling frame from which a sample is drawn. Coverage error...

Pierson et al. document the lack of diversity in bioethicists’ normative commitments and argue that bioethicists should be more “mindful of the gaps between the positions they endorse and those end...