Search

In our recent article, together with more than 60 of our colleagues, we outlined a proposal for drug policy reform consisting of four specific yet interrelated strategies: (1) de jure decriminalization of all psychoactive substances currently deemed illicit for personal use or possession (so-called “recreational” drugs), accompanied by harm reduction policies and initiatives akin to the Portugal model; (2) expunging criminal convictions for nonviolent offenses pertaining to the use or possession of small quantities of such drugs (and releasing those serving time for these offenses), while delivering retroactive ameliorative relief; (3) the ultimate legalization and careful regulation of currently illicit drugs; and (4) the delivery of a new “Marshall Plan” focused on community-building initiatives, expanded harm reduction programs, and social and health care support efforts (Earp et al. 2021). We were gratified to see so many thoughtful commentaries on our proposal, and we respond to them in part in this reply.

Recent developments in experimental philosophy (‘x-phi’) suggest that there is a new way in which the empirical and normative dimensions of bioethics can be brought into successful dialogue with one another. It revolves around conceptual analysis – though not the kind of conceptual analysis one might perform in an armchair. Following Édouard Machery, this is Conceptual Analysis Rebooted. In short, morally-pertinent medical concepts like ‘treatment’, ‘euthanasia’ and ‘sanctity of life’ can each have several meanings that underwrite inferences with different moral implications. X-phi shows us that an experimental approach to conceptual analysis can make explicit the implicit structures that underpin our thinking about such concepts. By presenting concrete examples, I aim to offer a glimpse of an empirically-grounded, practically-normative 'bioxphi' that demystifies and distinguishes medical concepts, assesses the normative inferences these concepts dispose us to draw and revises those inferences that are deficient.

Having tackled the subjects of terrorism, war, and conflict between West and East in much of his prolific, highly-acclaimed literary output – most notably in his 2005 L’Attentat, which received the...

In ShortSocial media have opened the doors for racial hostility to be displayed on campus in new ways, and specifically towards students of color.Most racially hostile posts occur on geo-locating a...

Leila Sebbar's La Seine etait rouge (1999) traces the attempts of three characters to uncover the suppression of Algerian demonstrators by the Parisian police on 17 October 1961, an event which has hitherto been concealed from two of the three characters by their families. This transmission of silence reflects the wider reluctance to remember the Algerian War on the part of the French state, which only officially acknowledged the war in 1999. Though a wave of commemoration with regard to this past was instigated in the 1990s, this breaking of the silence has not led to a calm levelling of memory, but to a turbulent surge of memories in which opposing representations of the past clash. Sebbar's novel underlines this instability, bringing to light a plurality of memories collected from various actors in the events of 17 October 1961. Through a close textual analysis of how La Seine etait rouge constructs a narrative of plurality and incompleteness, this article outlines how Sebbar exposes the intricacies of...

(2008). Can Damages Buy You Happiness? Damages for Distress after Farley v Skinner. King's Law Journal: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 113-134.

(2007). Expedition of Public Law Appeals in the Court of Appeal. Judicial Review: Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 204-209.

This paper offers a preliminary look at an important medium of political communication in Japan, namely election posters fixed to official poster-boards. We analyze two sets of post-election surveys, present the legal provisions regulating posters and carry out a descriptive and comparative analysis of the posters themselves. We identify significant differences between parties in the content and design of their candidates' posters. However, posters for the LDP and DPJ in particular show little uniformity, suggesting a deliberate strategy of not actively promoting the party brand at election time. We also propose areas for future research.