Why rational argument fails the genetic modification (GM) debate

When argument fails.

Moving beyond the GM Debate

Once again, there are calls to reopen the debate on genetically modified (GM) crops. I find these calls frustrating and unnecessarily decisive. In my opinion the GM debate, on both sides, continues to hamper the urgent need to address the diverse and pressing challenges of global food security and environmental sustainability. The destructive power of the debate comes from its conflation of unr...

Rational argument, rational inference

Reasoning researchers within cognitive psychology have spent decades examining the extent to which human inference measures up to normative standards. Work here has been dominated by logic, but logic has little to say about most everyday, informal arguments. Empirical work on argumentation within psychology and education has studied the development and improvement of argumentation skills, but h...

The best argument against kidney sales fails.

Simon Rippon has recently argued against kidney markets on the grounds that introducing the option to vend will result in many people, especially the poor, being subject to harmful pressure to vend. Though compelling, Rippon's argument fails. What he takes to be a single phenomenon-social and legal pressure to vend-is actually two. Only one of these forms of pressure is, by Rippon's own account...

Rift grows in GM debate

Although first generation genetically modified crops are now the norm in many parts of the world, researchers have failed to convince the public of their benefits and lack of environmental damage in other regions, including Europe. In spite of increasing hopes for the potential in GM crops, particularly in the wake of this year's hike in foodstuff prices, Britain's Prince Charles mounted a stro...