Piers Benn

Piers Benn is a lecturer in philosophy, member of the British Humanist Association. His research interests include ethics and medical ethics in particular. He's also interested in religion. [ [http://www.srcf.ucam.org/hmmsoc/recent.htm Theistic Proofs. Does belief in God require evidence?] - talk given on Oct 24, 2003 at Queens' College, Cambridge]

Work

He received his PhD degree in philosophy ("On Human Death: its Nature and Significance") from Birkbeck College, University of London (1992). He has been lecturer at the University of Leeds, University of St Andrews, Imperial College School of Medicine (University of London), and other places. [http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=1245 Members of the Humanist Philosophers' Group, BHA] ] He has also written articles in various journals and appeared on British media, including BBC [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/nightwaves/pip/tax34/ "Night Waves" 2005, Radio 3, BBC] ] .

His 1997 book "Ethics" is a textbook for undergraduate courses. The book is both an introduction into the subject and a substantive argument in favor of the neo-Aristotelian view of the objectivity of moral claims. [ [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0031-8094(200007)50%3A200%3C410%3AE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-I A review of Benn's "Ethics"] , "The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 200 (2000), pp. 410-412] It covers the following topic, in the corresponding chapters.
# Authority and relativism
# The objectivity of morality
# Consequentialism
# Kant's ethics
# Contractualism
# Free will and the moral emotions
# Virtue
# Reasoning about ethics

Views

He was among the 43 signatories of a 2002 letter sent to Tony Blair concerning teaching Creationism in British state-funded schools. [ [http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentviewarticle.asp?article=1352&splash=yes Letter to Tony Blair about teaching Creationism in schools] ]

At the 2005 conference "End-of-life issues in renal medicine" Benn argued that ethical rights, such as right to dignity or freedom from suffering, may be used as ethical justifications for the legalisation of assisted suicide. [ [http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/pubs/ClinicalMedicine/0506novdec/0506_novdec_conf1.htm "End-of-life issues in renal medicine"] ]

Commenting on Islamophobia in New Humanist, Benn suggests that people who fear the rise of Islamophobia foster an environment "not intellectually or morally healthy", to the point that what he calls "Islamophobia-phobia" can undermine "critical scrutiny of Islam as somehow impolite, or ignorant of the religion's true nature", encouraging "sentimental pretence that all claims to religious truth are somehow 'equal', or that critical scrutiny of Islam (or any belief system) is ignorant, prejudiced, or 'phobic'". [http://newhumanist.org.uk/524 "On Islamophobia-phobia"] , "New Humanist, Vol.117, Issue 2 (Summer 2002)"]

Bibliography

* "Ethics", "Fundamentals of Philosophy" series, McGill-Queen's University Press / UCL Press, 1997 ISBN 0-7735-1700-6 (hardcover), ISBN 0-7735-1701-4 (paperback, 1998), Routledge, 1997 ISBN 1-857-2845-34 (paperback), ISBN 1857286790 (hardcover), ISBN 0203046285 (e-book)
* "How Should We Treat the Dead?", in " [http://www.humanism.org.uk/site/cms/contentViewArticle.asp?article=1712 Thinking about Death] ", British Humanist Association (2002)
* " [http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-language/product/other-editions/0415304830?language=en%5FJP Is Nothing Sacred?] ", essays, by Richard Norman, Piers Benn, Simon Blackburn, and Michael Clark, 2004, Routledge ( [http://mqup.mcgill.ca/book.php?bookid=486 see description] )

References