Papers by Paul B Thompson
Technology in Society, 2024
Advanced cryopreservation technologies have the potential to transform organ transplants, biomedi... more Advanced cryopreservation technologies have the potential to transform organ transplants, biomedical research, food storage, aquaculture, biodiversity repositories, ecological restoration, and numerous other applications. These surpass the capability of existing cryopreservation technologies to extend the life and viability of biological materials at various scales from cells to tissues, organs, and entire organisms. In this article, we demonstrate why innovations in advanced cryopreservation, which we analyze as emergent, convergent platform technologies,
raise novel concerns for research ethics and coordination, governance, and equitable access to benefits. As emerging technologies, they may disrupt markets or destabilize social institutions, including the systems that govern the distribution of organs for transplant. As convergent technologies, their impact will be heightened through interaction with other technologies. The technologies that may intensify the social and ethical effects of advanced cryopreservation include information technologies that permit the administration of complex logistics
of storage and transport, biotechnologies for the management of floral and faunal species and populations, and 3D printing technologies that may enable the development and distribution of customizable peripheral components of this platform technology. The speed of development among diverse applications of the core platform is likely to vary between sectors in ways that are responsive to public support as well as to ethical constraints, and advancements in any sector will affect the achievement of reliability for the core technology across sectors. We recommend that societal benefits and risks be assessed in the specific contexts for which peripheral components are developed.
Greentopia: Utopian Thought in the Anthropocene, 2024
This chapter from Kallhoff & Liedauer's 2024 book sets out some key features of an agriculturally... more This chapter from Kallhoff & Liedauer's 2024 book sets out some key features of an agriculturally based environmental utopia. In such a world, the production of food and fiber would be wholly consonant with resilient ecosystems, but the idea of a utopia implies more. The paper explores the tension between utopias that emphasize food security and those that highlight resilience. The paper draws on my earlier distinctions between industrial and agrarian philosophies of agriculture.
Journal of Responsible Innovation, 2024
An inclusive and socially legitimate governance structure is absent to address concerns over new ... more An inclusive and socially legitimate governance structure is absent to address concerns over new agricultural biotechnologies. Establishing an agricultural bioethics commission devoted to inclusive deliberation on ethics and governance in agricultural and food biotechnology is urgent. Highlighting the social and ethical dimensions of current agricultural bioengineering disputes in the food system, we discuss how a nationally recognized policy forum could improve decision-making and increase public understanding of the issues. We clarify ways the concepts that are used to categorize food and frame governance of food affect consumer choices, and how dissemination of information and the mode of dissemination can contribute to social inequities. We cite the record of medically-oriented bioethic commissions and the history of international bioethic commissions in support of our argument, and end by discussing what such a commission dedicated to agriculture and food issues could reasonably be expected to achieve.
Key Issues in Agricultural Ethics, 2023
Agricultural ethics is a form of reflective inquiry on norms and goals for agriculture and food s... more Agricultural ethics is a form of reflective inquiry on norms and goals for agriculture and food systems. It should be distinguished from aspects of common morality that regulate behavior. Violations of the common morality occur in agriculture, but the moral or normative dimension is not controversial. In contrast agricultural ethics is a sustained and systematic form of research on uncertain, disputed or antiquated norms for food systems. The chapter includes a brief discussion on teaching agricultural ethics.
Science, 2022
A letter in Science arguing for a U.S. commission to discuss and review ethical issues in food an... more A letter in Science arguing for a U.S. commission to discuss and review ethical issues in food and agricultural technology.
Science, 2022
A letter in Science arguing for a U.S. commission to discuss and review ethical issues in food an... more A letter in Science arguing for a U.S. commission to discuss and review ethical issues in food and agricultural technology.
Cross Currents, 1982
Extended review of "Ethics in the 21st Century" edited by Good paster and Sayer
A Guide to Field Philosophy, 2020
This paper is a self description of the impact that my career work has had outside the discipline... more This paper is a self description of the impact that my career work has had outside the discipline of philosophy.
Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal and Policy Issues in Biotechnology, 2000
Introduction Biotechnology and Food Food: Safe, Pure, and Wholesome Risk, Safety, and Deliberativ... more Introduction Biotechnology and Food Food: Safe, Pure, and Wholesome Risk, Safety, and Deliberative Rational Choice Approaches to Food Safety Assessing Risk Risk, Purity, and Consent Risk and Purity Risk and Consent Food Labels Keywords: agricultural biotechnology
The Santa Clara Journal of International Law, 2006
Toronto Press. 2 The molecular biology of plant transformation stipulates that any genetic sequen... more Toronto Press. 2 The molecular biology of plant transformation stipulates that any genetic sequence could, theoretically, be inserted into a plant genome, express and produce proteins. Thus, it is theoretically possible to, for example, produce highly toxic plants-a tomato that contains cobra venom, for example-though one hastens to add that such plants are not currently being developed, so far as anyone knows.
The International Library of Environmental, Agricultural and Food Ethics
The ethics of aid and trade
Agriculture and Human Values
The American journal of bioethics : AJOB, Sep 1, 2017
Lisa Lee’s “A Bridge Back to the Future” (Lee 2017) is a noble effort to connect strands in publi... more Lisa Lee’s “A Bridge Back to the Future” (Lee 2017) is a noble effort to connect strands in public health and environmental ethics to mainstream bioethics, and one that is close to my heart. Yet she neglects some obvious components of that bridge that were prominent in Van Potter’s vision. Potter wrote partially in response to work by population ecologists such as Garrett Hardin or Paul and Anne Ehrlich, who were raising ethical questions about growth in human numbers and the planet’s capacity to produce enough food. It was already evident that continued expansion of agriculture would impinge on uncultivated flora and fauna (what we now call biodiversity), while undernutrition and famine were causing a rolling crisis in global public health. These problems are still with us, as a recent article in Science attests (Crist, Mora, and Engelman 2017). In fact, the ethical issues have gotten thornier. Food security in less developed regions is now ironically understood to be most severe among subsistence smallholders—a phenomenon that undercuts the wisdom of responding with gifts of food (Thompson 2015). In the industrialized West, obesity and overconsumption are recognized as key issues in public health, and ethical debates about where to assign responsibility and how to respond are now occurring (Barnhill et al. 2014). The large philosophical literature that advocates for vegetarianism on moral grounds presents further complications, and there are also moral norms of hospitality that have governed more traditional food practices (Boisvert and Heldke 2016). Popular works like Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore’s Dilemma have stimulated a social movement aimed at social and environmental justice via personal dietary choice, and Peter Singer is one philosopher who has offered such advice (Singer and Mason 2007). Lee not only omits the issues, she neglects to mention the work that philosophers have done on food ethics throughout the last four decades. One can scarcely imagine that Lee will object to the suggestion that food topics should be included in her bridge back to the future. I argue a stronger claim: Food ethics has both a centrality and an integrative capacity in a broadened conception of bioethics. As such, the vision that Professor Lee advances will not be achieved if food issues remain off the radar of bioethics. Lee’s bridge needs a vigorous effort to renew the bioethics community’s attention to the production, distribution, and consumption of food. THE CENTRALITY OF FOOD ETHICS
Cahiers D Economie Et Sociologie Rurales, 2000
Une approche éthique Résumé-La théorie néo-libérale de l'éthique économique milite en laveur de l... more Une approche éthique Résumé-La théorie néo-libérale de l'éthique économique milite en laveur de la des normes dans le libéralisation des échanges. Dans ce cadre, elle avance des arguments pour l'établiscommerce international sement de normes allant dans le sens d'une promotion de cette libéralisation. L'harmonisarion des normes doit routefois. d un ooint de vue néo-libéral. oréserver le droir du consommateur de choisir de s'exooser. ou non. aux risoues aisociés à ses Mots-clés: achars alimentaires. En conséquence, les normes établies ne doivent pas priver le éthique, théorie consommateur de cette possibilité de choix alternacif qui reflèterair mieux ses préfénéo-libérale, échanges rences, en matière alimentaire. internationaux, normes, Dans cet article, nous présentons et discutons les concepts de base de la rhéorie de sécurité alimentaire, qualité l'éthique économique, en illustrant notre propos à l'aide de I'exemple des normes des oroduits alimentaires. relatives à la sécurité des aliments. libeitarisme, utilitarisme Grades and standards in tbe context of international trade : Sorne etbical considerations Key-u,ords: etbia, neo-liberal theorl. international trade, $andards, fnd :afet1, food qra / it1,, I ibertariani snt, utilitarianisnt Summary-Gradcs and standard: for hotb domestir and intrnatioxal tradz are hased in part on belief: abort the pnrpose of cannurce, its contribtuion to the pthlit goad, and general principles on u,hicb sputfic exchanga sboald he eitba pmnitted or rettricted. Thae belief: fonn the basis for ethical argttments aboat grar)es and standards. 'fuo general tlpes of argunnnt haw fmwd a dua/ etbrral rationale ftr libualization of tradt restriction.r anl expansion d global trade. 0n the one hand, hbatarian drgtnrcnfi stru.r the frudon or right of indiuiclaals to r)ispose af kgdil1 acqnired proputy hou,na tbel ne fit. Lihutarian argilmenfi rule ouî rutùctians on pasonal freedon exaeltt under conditions nf exit and consent. 0n tbe otber band, ttti/itarian ttrkmknfi stre.r.r the rocial henefit of free trafu and uilize ecanorttit' analysis to demowtrate that relaîiuel1' open trading ,'rtemr lead tzu'ard efficient rtte af rocietl'.r total resarrcet. Tbey tuo rationales can cortu into conJlirt wer gradts anl stancLrds, bou'na. Tbe ati/itarian rationale prnides a barit for tandards ainted at inruring bealtb and rafety tbat can conflitt u'ith libenarian beltef that inclfuidnall should he at liberty h choose ubich ri.rks trt run, and u,hich ta auaicl. Standards intendzd ta npltctrt n/taral$ based food practiaes beconu apecialll, conrrwersial, esieia/b, u,ben thel'are negotiated at an international lnel. Vbih ntilitarians ua1,be u,illingto ttn:cientifit' risk aressnrcnt to predict actttal benefits anl risks af a giuen rtandad, /ibertarians na1 regard natianal$ batecl nltaral ftod standards as intrjcate ,,rtntr 0f exit and nnsent. lf so tbel u'ill object to intunational standard retting hated on benefit-ri.rk calmlation, and u'ill iwitt on prucedwel tbat leaue opparîmitiu for exit and tbat inaahte citizens in the actite pronrmnnt of L'onJent.
Philosophy in Review, 1988
Nature Biotechnology, 2003
In Science, Seeds and Cyborgs, author Finn Bowring gives us a polemic against many possible uses ... more In Science, Seeds and Cyborgs, author Finn Bowring gives us a polemic against many possible uses of molecular reproduction, including genetic engineering of plants and animals, cloning of animals and humans and the use of genetic testing for an array of screening purposes. The range of issues covered is so extensive that discussion of each specific topic is often at best a proposal for an argument or a gesture to existing literature, rather than a critique with enough detail to warrant evaluation or response. Although seeds are mentioned prominently in the title, for example, the book devotes only 26 pages to plant biotechnology, and attempts to cover allergenic risks, use of antibiotic markers, invasiveness, nontarget organisms, introgression, farmer dependence on chemicals and methodological issues in ecological risk assessment in those pages. Bowring's handling of these issues is rife with problems. He describes gene transfer among prokaryotes as if the same mechanisms apply to plants. He ignores empirical evidence about herbicide and pesticide use on transgenic crops. He fails to consider any of the risks associated with transgenic crops in comparison with risks from conventional agricultural methods. This list could go on, and the book will infuriate readers knowledgeable about the details of virtually any of the single issues Bowring takes up. The importance of the book, however, does not lie in the details but in Bowring's claim that dozens of moral and social problems arise in connection with a philosophical failing in the mind-set of contemporary biologists. This view is becoming increasingly influential among critics of biotechnology, and it explains not only why they are often careless in mounting the details of a specific argument on a single topic (such as food safety or ecological risk), but also why they fail to be impressed by painstaking scientific rebuttals to arguments on an issue-by-issue basis. The name typically given to this alleged failing is reductionism, and Bowring's discussion of it is as thorough as any I have seen.
Sustaining Soil Productivity in Response to Global Climate Change: Science, Policy, and Ethics,
Greater willingness to engage in ethical dialog over alternative ways to understand the ethics of... more Greater willingness to engage in ethical dialog over alternative ways to understand the ethics of soil can both clarify soil management goals and sharpen unspoken differences of perspective that may lead to conflict or unintended consequences. The chapter provides a provisional “first draft” inventory of the way that ethical language is used in ways that bear on soil management and stewardship. First, ethical considerations motivate action in three distinct contexts: acts of single individuals such as farmers; collective (but often informal) management of soils as common pool resources; and finally in the justification of public policy. In each of these domains, it is possible to conceptualize soil management as a means or instrument for achieving more fundamental ends, such as fulfilling duties to other people or future generations or finding the optimal distribution of goods and evils in the form of human sustenance and environmental insult. It may also be possible to move beyond ...
Low-Probability High-Consequence Risk Analysis, 1984
Traditional generic approaches to risk analysis give rise to problems in dealing with aspects of ... more Traditional generic approaches to risk analysis give rise to problems in dealing with aspects of low-probability/high-consequence or high-probability/low-consequence risk. Risk benefit analysis (and other forms of risk assessment) have concentrated on developing quantifications of risks to health, safety, and property which concentrate on the middle range of risk. Risks of extremely low probability or of extremely low consequence are therefore poorly represented. Attempts to resolve this problem on a generic basis have suffered from difficulties in application and general philosophical justification. As an alternative, a situational approach is recommended.
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Papers by Paul B Thompson
raise novel concerns for research ethics and coordination, governance, and equitable access to benefits. As emerging technologies, they may disrupt markets or destabilize social institutions, including the systems that govern the distribution of organs for transplant. As convergent technologies, their impact will be heightened through interaction with other technologies. The technologies that may intensify the social and ethical effects of advanced cryopreservation include information technologies that permit the administration of complex logistics
of storage and transport, biotechnologies for the management of floral and faunal species and populations, and 3D printing technologies that may enable the development and distribution of customizable peripheral components of this platform technology. The speed of development among diverse applications of the core platform is likely to vary between sectors in ways that are responsive to public support as well as to ethical constraints, and advancements in any sector will affect the achievement of reliability for the core technology across sectors. We recommend that societal benefits and risks be assessed in the specific contexts for which peripheral components are developed.
raise novel concerns for research ethics and coordination, governance, and equitable access to benefits. As emerging technologies, they may disrupt markets or destabilize social institutions, including the systems that govern the distribution of organs for transplant. As convergent technologies, their impact will be heightened through interaction with other technologies. The technologies that may intensify the social and ethical effects of advanced cryopreservation include information technologies that permit the administration of complex logistics
of storage and transport, biotechnologies for the management of floral and faunal species and populations, and 3D printing technologies that may enable the development and distribution of customizable peripheral components of this platform technology. The speed of development among diverse applications of the core platform is likely to vary between sectors in ways that are responsive to public support as well as to ethical constraints, and advancements in any sector will affect the achievement of reliability for the core technology across sectors. We recommend that societal benefits and risks be assessed in the specific contexts for which peripheral components are developed.