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News

News: September/October 2014

Terror group labels philosophy “ungodly” • Hawking warns of end of universe • Ethics panel debates ebola response — News reports by Sue Roberts, Anja Steinbauer and Matthew Wills

Terror Group Bans Philosophy

The Islamic State (IS) has banned the teaching of philosophy and chemistry in schools in the northern Syrian city of al-Raqa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The IS asked teachers and school directors to “prepare an Islamic education system in the schools of al-Raqa”, to be reviewed by a board of education formed by the IS itself. According to SOHR the ‘Islamic experts’ belonging to the IS decided to exclude chemistry and philosophy from the educational programme because “they do not fit in with the laws of God.”

The Ethics of Fighting Ebola

An ethics panel has been meeting at the World Health Organization to thrash out the pros and cons of making untested experimental drugs more widely available to Ebola victims. The panel of twelve doctors and ethicists have to take into account standard considerations of medical ethics such as informed consent, but also be sensitive to the implications of importing Western values into a different cultural setting.

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