Philosophers Take On the World

Every day the news shows us provoking stories about what's going on in the world, about events which raise moral questions and problems. In Philosophers Take On the World a team of philosophers get to grips with a variety of these controversial issues, from the amusing to the shocking, in short, engaging, often controversial pieces. Covering topics from guns to abortion, the morality of drinking alone, hating a sports team, and being rude to cold callers, the essays will make you think again about the judgments we make on a daily basis and the ways in which we choose to conduct our lives.

Philosophers Take On the World is based on the blog run by the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, one of the world's leading centres for applied ethics.

David Edmonds, Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Oxford

David Edmonds is a Senior Research Associate at Oxford's Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics. He is also an award winning documentary maker for BBC radio. He is the author, co-author, or editor, of 10 books which have been translated into 25 languages. They include, with John Eidinow, the international bestseller Wittgenstein's Poker. His latest book, Would You Kill The Fat Man was picked as Editor's Choice in the New York Times. With Nigel Warburton he co-runs Philosophy Bites (www.philosophybites.com ), the popular philosophy podcast which has had over 28 million downloads.

Crime and Punishment
1. Time to Reconsider the Penal Code?, Anders Herlitz
2. Enhanced Punishment, Rebecca Roache
3. Degrees of Sexual Harm, Brian D. Earp
Terrorism, Guns, and War
4. A Challenge to Gun Rights, Jeff McMahan
5. McMahan's Hazardous (and Irrelevant) Thought Experiment, Allen Buchanan, Lance K. Stell
6. Travel, Friends, and Killing, Seth Lazar
7. The Courageous Suicide Bomber?, Roger Crisp
8. Chemical Weapons: In Defence of Double Standards, Owen Schaefer
9. Looted Artworks: A Portrait of Justice, Cecile Fabre
Health and Medicine
10. Homeopathy: An Undiluted Proposal, Steve Clarke
11. Five Minutes Too Late, Lachlan de Crespigny and Julian Savulescu
12. Taking Drugs to Help Others, Tom Douglas
13. My Son's Dyslexic And I'm Glad, Charles Foster
14. The Point of Death, Janet Radcliffe Richards
15. Is it Ethical to use Data from Nazi Medical Experiments?, Lynn Gillam
16. Financial Incentives, Coercion, and Psychosis, Jonathan Pugh
17. Mr Nicklinson and the Right To Die, Julian Savulescu
Drugs and Organs
18. In Praise of Organ-ised sport, Dominic Wilkinson
19. Do We Own Our Bodies?, Janet Radcliffe Richards
20. Psychiatric Drugs and Religious Norms, Katrien Devolder
Religion and Charity
21. Catholic Identity and Strong Dissent - How Compatible?, Tony Coady
22. Banking: The Ethical Career Choice?, William MacAskill
23. On Rebuilding Noah's Ark and Drinking Old Burgundy, Charles Foster
24. Should Conservative Christians be Allowed to Foster Children?, Simon Rippon
Sex, Sex-equality and Sexuality
25. Can You Be Gay By Choice?, Brian D. Earp
26. Prostitution and Disability, Brian D. Earp
27. Artificial Wombs and a visit to Birland, Chris Gyngell
28. Is Unwanted Pregnancy A Medical Disorder?, Rebecca Roache
29. Is Half An Abortion Worse than a Whole One?, Simon Rippon
30. Nick-less?, Dominic Wilkinson
31. Paedophilia and Predisposition, Kyle T. Edwards
32. Checking People Out, Ole Martin Moen
33. Female Philosophers and Sexual Harassment, David Edmonds
34. An Unfortunate State of Affairs, Hilary Greaves
Sport
35. The Morality of Sport Hatred, Joshua Shepherd
36. Doping: When Will We Learn?, Julian Savulescu
37. Tennis and Sex, David Edmonds
Brains
38. My Brain Made Me Do It - So What?, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
39. My Client's Brain is to Blame, Simon Rippon
40. Mapping Brains and Finding Direction, Regina Rini
Language, Speech and Freedom
41. Countering Islam extremism, Peter Singer
42. Disabling Language, Neil Levy
43. Stop Orientalism?, Kei Hiruta
44. The Naked Truth, Roger Crisp
45. Porn, Condoms, and Liberty, Kyle T. Edwards
46. Should Men Be Allowed to Discuss Abortion?, Jim A.C. Everett
Evil, Disgust, Shame, Rudeness, and Joy
47. A Reflection on Confronting Evil, Regina Rini
48. Shame about the Internet, Andreas Kappes
49. In Defence of Drinking Alone, Rebecca Roache and Hannah Maslen
50. Lady Thatcher is Dead: Pop Open The Champagne, David Edmonds
51. Steamy Calamari and Trans-species Eroticism, Anders Sandberg
52. Nothing is like Mother's Ice Cream, Anders Sandberg
53. Rudeness and Cold Callers, Hannah Maslen
Animals
54. Treated Like Animals, Christine Korsgaard
55. What is a Pet Worth?, Russell Powell
56. The Best Idea You've Heard All Year, Michelle Hutchinson
The Future and its People
57. Enlightened Surveillance, Stuart Armstrong
58. Why It's OK to Block Ads, James Williams
59. Would You Hand Over A Decision To Machines?, Sean O hEigeartaigh
60. Should We Be Erasing Memories, Matthew Liao, Anders Sandberg, Julian Savulescu
61. Adding Happy People, Theron Plummer
62. The Pregnant Man and Other Conceptual Surprises, Guy Kahane