Adventures in Ethics and Science 2008-06-19

Considering an ethicist's 'questionable behavior'.

The press covering the story of bioethicist Glenn McGee's departure from the post of director of the Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College is hungry for an ironic twist. For example, Scientific American titles its article "An Unethical Ethicist?" What more fitting fall than some self-appointed morality cop going down on account of his own immoral dealings? Believe me, I'm familiar with the suspicions people seem to harbor that ethicists are, in fact, twice as naughty as other folks. But from the evidence laboriously assembled in the SciAm article, I'm just not buying the picture of McGee laughing maniacally while twirling his mustache and plotting all manner of evil. (To be fair, despite the headline, I don't think the SciAm piece is arguing that McGee is a villain, either.) Rather, I'm inclined to think that he made a ...

read more    1 hit

more posts from Adventures in Ethics and Science