Jan Vorstenbosch

The ethical acceptability of animal experiments: a proposal for a system to support decision-making

We describe a system to support decision-making on the ethical acceptability of animal experiments for scientific researchers and others responsible for ethical decision-making in animal experiments. The system consists of eight steps. Each step contains a number of substantive questions or a computational rule, leading to a well-articulated moral judgment on specific animal experiments. The system comprises a number of moral assumptions and pre-emptive norms, but leaves enough room for moral discretion and personal responsibility. The general ethical ideas behind the moral choices and assumptions are sketched and potential objections to the overall approach are discussed.

Philosophy of Sport in Belgium and the Netherlands; History and Characteristics

For a few decades now, philosophy of sport has been an acknowledged area of philosophy. Several journals exist, and organizations and conferences are organized to discuss the numerous topics. Philosophy of sport is a lively discipline that debates a wide range of topics, including practical ethical questions such as doping and enhancement and questions regarding sport practices in society, as well as more abstract questions regarding internal values of sport, and the nature of sport itself. Although internationally oriented, sport philosophical debates do sometimes differ from country to country, from region to region, depending on local embedding of issues and favorite sports. In the Low Countries—Belgium and the Netherlands—some specific themes have dominated the discussions, sometimes with far-reaching consequences for sport. It was, for instance, the arrest of the Belgian football player Bosman (in 1995), which set the world of football upside down. The Netherlands and Belgium have many commonalities. As good neighbors, both Belgians and the Dutch are fond of cycling and football (“soccer” for North Americans). The Dutch are an acclaimed football nation ever since the 70’s and, being a “country of water,” have a long, dominating, and culturally important, tradition in skating, as well as swimming and sailing. In this paper, we sketch the outlines of the development and debate in sport philosophy in the Low Countries over the last two decades: what is at stake, what are the main topics and publications and what is currently dominating the landscape of philosophy of sport? Since the Netherlands have a more active philosophy of sport community than Belgium, and since the former has more inspired the latter than the other way around, the recent history of philosophy of sport in the Netherlands makes up the bulk of this paper. The developments in Belgium will be described in general terms. We will conclude with an attempt to pin down the specific contribution of philosophy of sport in the Netherlands and Belgium to the international forum.

Doping and Cheating

A familiar move that philosophers of sport make in the debate on the doping-issue is to reject from the start the argument that doping comes down to cheating. The claim that doping is cheating is often rebutted with the argument that doping is only cheating when one accepts that the use of doping is unjustified in itself. In this paper I want to argue that putting aside the cheating-argument in this way comes, first, too easy, because essential complexities of what cheating is, are neglected. And, second, it comes too soon, because spelling the cheating argument out throws new light on the debate about matters of justifying the rules and criteria concerning doping. I will confine myself in this paper to the claim that it is in any case the institutional authorities that professional athletes cheat on. The relations with other parties that apparently can be claimed to be cheated upon also, such as other athletes in competition, are left out. The argument from cheating takes its starting point from a principle of fidelity, taken from Scanlon. By this principle the morally acceptable conduct of those taking part in a practice is grounded in the way reciprocal expectations are raised between parties to the practice. I apply this principle to the relation between athletes and institutional authorities in sport practices. This argument can take the cheating argument to a new level of seriousness, especially in the sense that the arguments treated here support a plea for democratization of the procedures and a larger role of the sportsmen and sportswomen themselves, or so I will defend.

Of firms and farms: agricultural ethics and the problem of compensation

Compensating farmers out of public funds for financiallosses due to adverse weather conditions and animaldiseases is fairly common in most Western countries.This government policy differs from that towardsentrepeneurs in other economic branches. Whatjustifies this differential treatment? In the firstpart of this article, three theories of justice arepresented that offer a general framework for dealingwith problems of compensatory justice. In the secondpart, the possibilities of justifiying differentialtreatment of agriculture within each of these theoriesare explored. It is concluded that compensatorypractices in agriculture require fundamentalrethinking in view of the changing technological,economic, and cultural conditions of agriculture.

Commentary: Special Duties and the AIDS-Crisis – A Commentary on the Roche Case

This comment concerns the question whether with respect to the AIDS-crisis in Africa waiving legally acquired and economically important patents, and other actions on the part of pharmaceutical company Roche, can and/or should be understood as a matter of moral duty. More specifically, the question is whether it is a case of a special duty on the basis of which pharmaceutical companies such as Roche, ought to take certain actions. Four possible foundations of a special duty of Roche are examined: (1) the voluntary, self contracted duties of the company, (2) the special bond that the company has with the victims on account of other causes than self contracting, (3) the special character of the good or the need that the products of the company provide for, (4) and the catastrophic character of the situation we are dealing with. It is concluded that in none of these ways a special duty can be successfully argued for. There may, however, be a case to make on the basis of the general principle that anyone in “Samaritan” circumstances, is bound to do what is in his power to improve the situation of others, at reasonable costs.