Articles / Book Chapters by Stephen M. Campbell
Ergo, 2022
With increased frequency, reproductive technologies are placing prospective parents in the positi... more With increased frequency, reproductive technologies are placing prospective parents in the position of choosing whether to bring a disabled child into the world. The most well-known objection to the act of “selecting against disability” is known as the Expressivist Argument. The argument claims that such acts express a negative or disrespectful message about disabled people and that one has a moral reason to avoid sending such messages. We have two primary aims in this essay. The first is to critically examine the standard Expressivist Argument, which we analyze in terms of the expression of ableist attitudes. We distinguish three interpretations of the argument and argue that each version faces serious objections. Our second aim is to articulate two distinct but closely related arguments that also pertain to expressed ableist attitudes. The Expressive Harms Argument maintains that there is a moral reason to avoid actions that give rise to the perception of ableist attitudes in cases where this is likely to have negative consequences for disabled people. The Ableist Motivation Argument speaks against selecting against disability in cases where one would be motivated by ableist attitudes. While these two arguments face various objections, we seek to establish that they are more promising than the most natural interpretations of the Expressivist Argument.
Bioethics, 2022
Many “anti-vaxxers” oppose COVID-19 vaccination mandates on the grounds that they wrongfully infr... more Many “anti-vaxxers” oppose COVID-19 vaccination mandates on the grounds that they wrongfully infringe on bodily autonomy. Their view has been expressed with the slogan “My Body, My Choice,” co-opted from the pro-choice abortion rights movement. Yet, many of those same people are pro-life and support abortion restrictions that are effectively a kind of gestation mandate. Both vaccine and gestation mandates impose restrictions on bodily autonomy in order to prevent serious harms. This article evaluates the defensibility of the anti-vax pro-life position. We argue that the case for opposing gestation mandates on grounds of bodily autonomy is much stronger than the case for opposing vaccine mandates—even if fetuses have full moral status. Thus, there is a deep tension in being a pro-life, COVID anti-vaxxer concerned with bodily autonomy.
Oxford Handbook of Meaning in Life, 2022
While it is widely thought that activities and lives can be meaningful or meaningless, this chapt... more While it is widely thought that activities and lives can be meaningful or meaningless, this chapter explores the possibility that they could also be ‘anti-meaningful’. Anti-meaning is the opposite of meaning. This chapter has two main objectives: first, it discusses what anti-meaning is (or could be taken to be); second, it discusses whether there are good reasons to add this unfamiliar notion to our set of concepts for thinking about meaning in life. The authors review the limited literature on this topic, distinguish two formal interpretations of the idea of anti-meaning, and propose different substantive theories of anti-meaning that correspond to leading theories of meaning. They then defend the notion of anti-meaning against scepticism about the usefulness of this concept.
Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 2021
The so-called Disability Paradox arises from the apparent tension between the popular view that d... more The so-called Disability Paradox arises from the apparent tension between the popular view that disability leads to low well-being and the relatively high life-satisfaction reports of disabled people. Our aim in this essay is to make some progress toward dissolving this alleged paradox by exploring the relationship between disability and various "goods of life"-that is, components of a life that typically make a person's life go better for her. We focus on four widely recognized goods of life (happiness, rewarding relationships, knowledge, achievement) and four common types of disability (sensory, mobility, intellectual, and social) and systematically examine the extent to which the four disability types are in principle compatible with obtaining the four goods of life. Our findings suggest that that there is a high degree of compatibility. This undermines the widespread view that disabilities, by their very nature, substantially limit a person's ability to access the goods of life, and it provides some guidance on how to dissolve the Disability Paradox.
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2020
Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Disability, 2020
Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Disability, 2020
Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 2017
The Ethics of Ability and Enhancement, 2017
Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Well-Being, 2016
American Journal of Bioethics, 2016
On the traditional view, moral distress arises only in cases where an individual believes she kno... more On the traditional view, moral distress arises only in cases where an individual believes she knows the morally right thing to do but fails to perform that action due to various constraints. We seek to motivate a broader understanding of moral distress. We begin by presenting six types of distress that fall outside the bounds of the traditional definition and explaining why they should be recognized as forms of moral distress. We then propose and defend a new and more expansive definition of moral distress and examine how it can enable the development of a taxonomy of moral distress.
It is widely recognized that lives and activities can be meaningful or meaningless, but few have ... more It is widely recognized that lives and activities can be meaningful or meaningless, but few have appreciated that they can also be anti-meaningful. Anti-meaning is the polar opposite of meaning. Our purpose in this essay is to examine the nature and importance of this new and unfamiliar topic. In the first part, we sketch four theories of anti-meaning that correspond to four leading theories of meaning. In the second part, we argue that anti-meaning has significance not only for our attempts to theorize about meaning in life, but also for our ability to lead meaningful lives in the modern world.
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2015
Book Reviews by Stephen M. Campbell
Iddo Landau understands a meaningful life as a life containing a sufficient number of sufficientl... more Iddo Landau understands a meaningful life as a life containing a sufficient number of sufficiently valuable aspects. Do the world's and the human condition's imperfections threaten meaning, thus understood? Landau argues that we can have a sufficient number of sufficiently valuable parts of our lives, even if the world is imperfect and the human condition involves various different imperfections. In this review, we offer some constructive criticisms of Landau's discussion, and we also highlight some of the virtues of his book.
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2017
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2016
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Articles / Book Chapters by Stephen M. Campbell
Book Reviews by Stephen M. Campbell