Michael Selgelid on Infectious Diseases

Aug 22, 2009

Can we infringe individual rights to promote public health? Should, say, people be allowed to decide for themselves when they are too infectious to get on a plane?

Can we infringe individual rights to promote public health? Should, say, individuals be allowed to determine for themselves when they are too infectious to get on a plane? What happens when an individual contracts a new disease that is of unknown virulence? How do we deal with patients who don’t take their prescriptions correctly and risk allowing dangerous pathogens to mutate?

These urgent questions are the domain of the bioethics of infectious disease. On this episode of Public Ethics Radio, we are aided in the search for answers by the philosopher and tuberculosis expert Michael Selgelid.

You may also like

MAR 2, 2026 Podcast

Amoral American Power, with Professor Matias Spektor

From Caracas to Tehran, U.S. power is no longer justified through a narrative of liberal internationalism. Matias Spektor examines the consequences of this shift.

FEB 25, 2026 Video

Why Space Matters and How to Govern It

Watch this "Ethics Empowered" event, in which an expert panel grapples with ethical questions on governance, militarization, and emerging technology in space.

FEB 20, 2026 Podcast

Keeping it Real(ism), with Assoc. Professor Paul Poast

With realism having a political moment, Paul Poast discusses the intellectual roots of the theory and how it's being applied in U.S. foreign policy.

Not translated

This content has not yet been translated into your language. You can request a translation by clicking the button below.

Request Translation