Piers Benn is a lecturer in philosophy, member of the British Humanist Association. His research interests include ethics and medical ethics in particular. He is also interested in religion.[1][2]
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He received his PhD degree in philosophy ("On Human Death: its Nature and Significance") from Birkbeck College, University of London (1992). He has been lecturer at the University of Leeds, University of St Andrews, Imperial College School of Medicine (University of London), and other places.[3] He has also written articles in various journals and appeared on British media, including BBC.[4]
His 1997 book Ethics is a textbook for undergraduate courses. The book is both an introduction into the subject and a substantive argument in favor of the neo-Aristotelian view of the objectivity of moral claims.[5] It covers the following topic, in the corresponding chapters.
He was among the 43 signatories of a 2002 letter sent to Tony Blair concerning teaching Creationism in British state-funded schools.[6]
At the 2005 conference "End-of-life issues in renal medicine" Benn argued that ethical rights, such as right to dignity or freedom from suffering, may be used as ethical justifications for the legalisation of assisted suicide.[7]
Commenting on Islamophobia in New Humanist, Benn suggests that people who fear the rise of Islamophobia foster an environment "not intellectually or morally healthy", to the point that what he calls "Islamophobia-phobia" can undermine "critical scrutiny of Islam as somehow impolite, or ignorant of the religion's true nature", encouraging "sentimental pretence that all claims to religious truth are somehow 'equal', or that critical scrutiny of Islam (or any belief system) is ignorant, prejudiced, or 'phobic'".[2]