Public Lecture
Alan Wertheimer
Senior research scholar, Department of Bioethics, U.S. National Institutes of Health
Professor of Political Science (emeritus), University of Vermont
RESEARCH ETHICS AND THE INTERACTION PRINCIPLE
Wednesday, June 19, 6:00-7:45 p.m.
SFU Harbour Centre (downtown campus), Room 1600
ABSTRACT: Clinical research typically involves an interaction between an investigator and a
subject. In some cases subjects participate because they expect to benefit from participation.
Still, it is often suggested that the researcher’s use of the subject – the interaction – generates
ethical obligations that go beyond those to those that inform the subject’s consent. Call this the
“interaction principle.” Although much of the literature on research ethics appeals to this
principle, it has some paradoxical implications. For example, it implies that it can be ethically
worse to interact with someone to her benefit than not to interact at all. And it implies that one
can have greater obligations to those whom one has already benefitted than to others. This talk
shows how this principle is important in research ethics and explores whether it can be defended.
SPEAKER BIO: Alan Wertheimer, PhD, is senior research scholar in the Department of Bioethics at the NIH. He is also professor emeritus of political
science at the University of Vermont, where he taught from 1968-2005. Dr. Wertheimer is the author of 4 books (Coercion, Exploitation, Consent to
Sexual Relations, and Rethinking the Ethics of Clinical Research. He has held fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University,
and the Program in Ethics and the Professions at Harvard University. Prior to joining the NIH, Dr. Wertheimer’s work focused on political philosophy
and philosophy of law. His work now focuses on issues in research ethics.
SPONSORS:
UBC W. MAURICE YOUNG CENTRE FOR APPLIED ETHICS, SFU PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT, SFU FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES,
UBC DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY, AND THE SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA (SSHRC).
This lecture is free and open to the public.
If you require assistance or more information, please contact Scott Anderson (scott.anderson@ubc.ca) or Jeremy Snyder (jcs12@sfu.ca).