TT21 New St Cross Seminar: Professor Gopal Sreenivasan

THE NEW ST CROSS SPECIAL ETHICS SEMINARS ARE JOINTLY ARRANGED BY THE OXFORD UEHIRO CENTRE AND THE WELLCOME CENTRE FOR ETHICS AND HUMANITIES (WEH).

Title

Waiver or understanding? A dilemma for autonomists about informed consent

Abstract

This paper develops a novel argument to show that prospective research subjects can validly consent to participate in a study without understanding (most of) the content of the required disclosure. Its point of departure is the right subjects standardly have to waive (most of) the investigator’s duty to disclose. Things get worse for autonomy based defences of informed consent because this right to waive is very well grounded in an individual’s autonomy.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/BYbvu2arISE

Speaker

Professor Gopal Sreenivasan (Crown University Distinguished Professor in Ethics, Duke University). Professor Sreenivasan’s research interests cover a wide range of topics across the whole spectrum of moral and political philosophy. Hot off the press, his new book Emotion and Virtue (Princeton, 2020) makes original contributions in both moral psychology and the theory of virtue.

Links

Professor Sreenivasan's webpage

Watch on YouTube

MP3 audio file

Transcript file

Blog post ‘Waiver or Understanding? A Dilemma for Autonomists about Informed Consent’, (8 June 2021)

Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities

About the Seminar Series

The New St Cross Special Ethics Seminars are jointly arranged by the Oxford Uehiro Centre and the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities.