Boris Johnson’s assertion is based on a much misunderstood claim by Margaret Thatcher that there’s no such thing as society, but many sociologists would agree with her.
- Professor Emeritus of Applied Philosophy, Glasgow Caledonian University
In the future, consciously aware robots could be part of our everyday world, deserving of moral respect and consideration.
The law needs to be more realistic about surrogacy services and payment, and reflect what is actually happening between couples and surrogates.
What 69-year-old philosopher Hugh MacLachlan made of Russia’s premier protest group.
Society persists in criminalising the use of cannabis but it is morally indefensible.
What might first seem unarguable starts to look shaky when you bring twins into the equation.
Making manifesto promises is a misleading trend that is distorting the role of politicians and parliament
Saying they are is to dangerously misunderstand the limits of scientific enquiry.
Presumed consent is not the way forward.
Since science made it possible to research manipulating the cells that are linked to reproduction, the naysayers have carried the day. But how solid are their objections really?
We’re all outraged by dopers and allegedly corrupt officials. Why, and are we justified?
The Conservatives have got it half-right by seeking to repeal the Human Rights Act. Too bad they want to replace it with something almost as unhelpful.
Those who loathe politicians may be right or wrong, but no greater an authority than David Hume would still say you should vote for them.
North Korea is outraged over an upcoming conference in Washington DC about its human rights abuses, to which it has not been invited. Pyongyang strongly denies that it has been alienating the human rights…
Oxfam is making what might appear to be a manifestly sound moral case when it urges political leaders at the global economic conference at Davos to adopt particular policies to reduce economic inequality…
Ever since David Cameron wrong-footed his opponents on the morning after the independence referendum by meshing it to the question of extending more powers to Scotland, the question of English votes for…
On Saturday October 4 we woke up to the news that looked depressingly inevitable. Alan Henning, a taxi driver from Salford, who had been captured in Syria last December while delivering aid to refugees…
Arctic Monkeys became members of a club they would probably have rather avoided recently. Joining the likes of Take That, Jimmy Carr and Anne Robinson, they became the latest celebrities to be vilified…
There might well be problems in some particular English schools which it is the business of the secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, to address. However, the rhetoric he has adopted is unwise…
The recent decision by the Scottish Parliament to scrap the need for corroboration in criminal trials is designed to solve a longstanding problem: there is a low rate of convictions in rape cases and…
Because of a supposed slight increase in the risk that the resulting child will be disabled, doubt has been cast on the morality of having a home delivery when one could have chosen to give birth in hospital…
Contact Hugh for
- General
- Media request
- Speaking request
- Consulting / Advising
- Research collaboration
- Research supervision
- Website
- Article Feed
- Joined
