Aleksy Tarasenko-Struc

One of my research programs concerns dehumanization as a category of acts, attitudes, and social practices. Victims of inhumanity commonly complain that they were treated as objects, animals, or subhuman monsters, or that their humanity was invisible to those who abused them. I defend a unified theory of the dehumanization at issue—its nature, kinds, and moral profile—and argue that the wrong of various forms of inhumanity toward people is best explained by my theory. I also apply this theory to topics in bioethics, where it can help pinpoint the special wrong of certain inappropriate medical practices. 

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Another research program is mapping out the scope and limits of justified paternalism in medicine: interference with a patient’s freedom for her own good. I want to know when and why the principle of respect for autonomy gives way to other obligations toward the patient, such as that of beneficence. Underlying this research program is the idea that forced treatment is very hard to morally justify because it typically constitutes an invasion of the unwilling patient’s body, with significant implications for suicide intervention as well as the treatment of people with eating disorders and substance use disorder.

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In other strands of my research, I try (1) to understand what it is to have decisional capacity, (2) to trace the proto-ethical pressures of our human affective capacities, and (3) to explore the moral significance of the fact that many of our moral obligations are obligations to others.
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