Papers by Anna-Karin Andersson
puts forth an objection to Nozick’s entitlement theory. In short, Nozick's entitlement theor... more puts forth an objection to Nozick’s entitlement theory. In short, Nozick's entitlement theory states that unowned material resources can be legitimately acquired by labor in a certain sense. Okin argues that an advocate of Nozick’s entitlement theory must, on pain of contradiction, accept that a mother owns her offspring by virtue of being the creator, at least until the offspring has developed certain properties and capabilities. Okin’s argument in support of the claim that one is caught in a contradiction if one accepts Nozick’s entitlement theory and also cherishes the claim that mothers do not own their offspring by virtue of being their creators is presented in section 1. It will be shown here that her position, in its present formulation, does not establish that the entitlement theory is contradictory, though it has morally repugnant implications. And in addition, that it is possible to formulate a slightly different version of her position that is actually stronger in tw...
This essay advances a libertarian theory of moral rights, which responds effectively to some seri... more This essay advances a libertarian theory of moral rights, which responds effectively to some serious objections that have been raised against libertarianism. I show how libertarianism can explain c ...
Journal of Medical Ethics
This article is the first indepth ethical analysis of empirical studies that support the claim th... more This article is the first indepth ethical analysis of empirical studies that support the claim that children born without major parts of their cerebral cortex are capable of conscious experiences and have a rudimentary capacity for agency. Congenitally decorticate children have commonly been classified as persistently vegetative, with serious consequences for their well-being and opportunities to flourish. The paper begins with an explication of the rights-based normative framework of the argument, including conceptual analysis of the terms ‘agency’, ‘potentiality for agency’ and ‘gradual approach of agency’. It critically examines Alan Gewirth’s account of the criteria for being a rights bearer and principles for settling rights conflicts between agents and potential agents. It then applies the rights-based normative framework to the ethical challenges associated with care for congenitally decorticate children. It argues that recent empirical studies support the claim that the conc...
Journal of Medical Ethics
There are two main ways of understanding the function of surrogate decision making in a legal con... more There are two main ways of understanding the function of surrogate decision making in a legal context: the Best Interests Standard and the Substituted Judgment Standard. First, we will argue that the Best Interests Standard is difficult to apply to unconscious patients. Application is difficult regardless of whether they have ever been conscious. Second, we will argue that if we accept the least problematic explanation of how unconscious patients can have interests, we are also obliged to accept that the Substituted Judgment Standard can be coherently applied to patients who have never been conscious at the same extent as the Best Interests Standard. We then argue that acknowledging this result is important in order to show patients respect.
Medicine, health care, and philosophy, Jan 3, 2016
Recent health legislation in Norway significantly increases access to specialist care within a le... more Recent health legislation in Norway significantly increases access to specialist care within a legally binding time frame. The paper describes the contents of the new legislation and introduces some of the challenges with proliferations of rights to health care. The paper describes some of the challenges associated with the proliferation of legal rights to health care. It explains the benefits of assessing the new law in the light of a rights framework. It then analyses the problematic aspects of establishing additional priority rules as solutions to rights conflicts. It then defends adequacy criteria for acceptable priority rules when such rules are unavoidable. It finally defends our proposed method and explores concrete applications.
Forum Philosophicum, 2007
In this paper, a rights-based argument for the impermissibility of abortion, infanticide and negl... more In this paper, a rights-based argument for the impermissibility of abortion, infanticide and neglect of some pre-natal organisms and infants/children is advanced. I argue, in opposition to most rights-ethicists, that the potentiality for autonomous agency gives individuals negative rights. I also examine the conjecture that potential autonomous agents have positive rights in virtue of their vulnerability. According to this suggestion, once an individual obtains actual autonomous agency, he or she has merely negative rights. Possible solutions to conflicts of rights between parents and their offspring are investigated. Finally, I discuss a lexical order between positive and negative rights, which may solve conflicts between the rights of potential autonomous agents and actual autonomous agents.
Philosophical Studies, 2014
Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 2011
This article contributes to the current debate on human embryonic stem cell researchers' ... more This article contributes to the current debate on human embryonic stem cell researchers' possible complicity in the destruction of human embryos and the relevance of such complicity for the issue of commodification of human embryos. I will discuss if, and to what extent, researchers who destroy human embryos, and researchers who merely use human embryos destroyed by others, have moral use rights, and/or moral property rights, in these embryos. I argue that the moral status of the human embryo, however justified, places few restrictions on the latter researchers' use of it, and property rights in it, once it is destroyed. I argue that the former researchers have no property rights in the destroyed embryo but use rights in it to the extent allowed by the legitimate owners of the destroyed embryo. I discuss the implications of this account for previous and current US federal law regulating human embryonic stem cell research.
The Journal of Value Inquiry, 2013
SUSAN MOLLER OKIN, IN her 1989 book Justice, Gender, and the Family, puts forth an objection to N... more SUSAN MOLLER OKIN, IN her 1989 book Justice, Gender, and the Family, puts forth an objection to Nozick's entitlement theory. In short, Nozick's entitlement theory states that unowned material resources can be legitimately acquired by labor in a certain sense. Okin argues that an advocate of Nozick's entitlement theory must, on pain of con- tradiction, accept that a mother owns her offspring by virtue of being the creator, at least until the offspring has developed certain proper- ties and capabilities. Okin's argument in support of the claim that one is caught in a contradiction if one accepts Nozick's entitlement theory and also cherishes the claim that mothers do not own their offspring by virtue of being their creators is presented in section 1. It will be shown here that her position, in its present formulation, does not establish that the entitlement theory is contradictory, though it has morally repug- nant implications. And in addition, that it is pos...
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2013
Developing World Bioethics, 2011
Recent global advances in available technology to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission necess... more Recent global advances in available technology to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission necessitate a rethinking of contemporary and previous ethical debates on HIV testing as a means to preventing vertical transmission. In this paper, we will provide an ethical analysis of HIV-testing strategies of pregnant women. First, we argue that provider-initiated opt-out HIV testing seems to be the most effective HIV test strategy. The flip-side of an opt-out strategy is that it may end up as involuntary testing in a clinical setting. We analyse this ethical puzzle from a novel perspective, taking into account the moral importance of certain hypothetical preferences of the child, as well as the moral importance of certain actual preferences of the mother. Finally, we balance the conflicting concerns and try to arrive at an ethically sound solution to this dilemma. Our aim is to introduce a novel perspective from which to analyse testing strategies, and to explore the implications and possible benefits of our proposal. The conclusion from our analysis is that policies that recommend provider-initiated opt-out HIV testing of pregnant mothers, with a risk of becoming involuntary testing in a clinical setting, are acceptable. The rationale behind this is that the increased availability of very effective and inexpensive life-saving drugs makes the ethical problems raised by the possible intrusiveness of HIV testing less important than the child's hypothetical preferences to be born healthy. Health care providers, therefore, have a duty to offer both opt-out HIV testing and available PMTCT (preventing mother-to-child transmission) interventions.
Journal of Medical Ethics, 2016
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Papers by Anna-Karin Andersson