The New Normal: “Covert Moral Enhancement” for “coronavirus defectors”

 

Four days ago the Conversation – an “independent source of news and views, sourced from the academic and research community” – published an article headlined:

‘Morality pills’ may be the US’s best shot at ending the coronavirus pandemic, according to one ethicist

The article’s author is Parker Crutchfield, an Associate Professor of Medical Ethics, Humanities and Law at Western Michigan University, and his argument can be broken down into four key points:

1. Wearing masks and social distancing are good for public health
2. People who refuse to follow these rules are “defectors” who need to be “morally enhanced”
3. This moral enhancement can be achieved with medication to make people more “empathetic” and “co-operative”
4. This medication should be compulsory and/or administered secretly via the water supply.  (more...)

The New Normal: “Covert Moral Enhancement” for “coronavirus defectors”