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Ethox Seminar: The end of family authority? The strange case of digital advance directives
Abstract
While digital advance directives, such as the P4 system, have been presented as promising alternatives to surrogate decision-making, these systems have also faced criticism for being potentially misguided and even unethical. In this presentation, I critically examine two objections to the dominant emphasis on the loss of autonomous choice, with the aim of re-evaluating the philosophical foundations of digital advance directives through the lens of family ethics. First, I analyse how the debate surrounding digital advance directives is misleading in its focus on proxy decision-making as merely a matter of reproducing preferences. This narrow conception of autonomy overlooks the fact that such decisions often involve shared agency and familial responsibility. Second, I argue that the current literature largely ignores issues of social and epistemic injustice—concerns that cannot be dismissed in the ethical evaluation of these technologies. The presentation concludes by addressing a potential objection: that incorporating a family ethics perspective might reinforce irrational preferences for maintaining the status quo.
This will be a hybrid meeting in the Richard Doll Building Lecture Theatre and on Zoom (medsci.zoom.us/j/96943361305)
Date:
24 June 2025, 10:30
Venue:
Richard Doll Building, Old Road Campus OX3 7LF
Venue Details:
Lecture Theatre
Speaker:
Dr Michiel De Proost (Ghent University)
Organising department:
Ethox Centre
Organiser:
Aileen Mooney (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
admin@ethox.ox.ac.uk
Part of:
Ethox Centre Seminars
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Public
Editors:
Aileen Mooney,
Shakira Morar
