68- Earp on the Ethics of Love Drugs

In this episode I talk (again) to Brian Earp. Brian is Associate Director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics and Health Policy at Yale University and The Hastings Center, and a Research Fellow in the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. Brian has diverse research interests in ethics, psychology, and the philosophy of science. His research has been covered in Nature, Popular Science, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Atlantic, New Scientist, and other major outlets. We talk about his latest book, co-authored with Julian Savulescu, on love drugs. You can listen to the episode below or download it here. You can also subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify and other leading podcasting services (the RSS feed is here). Show Notes0:00 - Introduction2:17 - What is love? (Baby don't hurt me) What is a love drug?7:30 - What are the biological underpinnings of love?10:00 - How constraining is the biological foundation to love?13:45 - So we're not natural born monogamists or polyamorists?17:48 - Examples of actual love drugs23:32 - MDMA in couples therapy27:55 - The situational ethics of love drugs33:25 - The non-specific nature of love drugs39:00 - The basic case in favour of love drugs40:48 - The ethics of anti-love drugs44:00 - The ethics of conversion therapy48:15 - Individuals vs systemic change50:20 - Do love drugs undermine autonomy or authenticity?54:20 - The Vice of In-Principlism56:30 - The future of love drugs  Relevant LinksBrian's Academia.edu page (freely accessible papers)Brian's Researchgate page (freely accessible papers)Brian asking Sam Harris a questionThe book: Love Drugs or Love is the Drug'Love and enhancement technology'by Brian Earp'The Vice of In-principlism and the Harmfulness of Love' by me   #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the preceding CSS link to the HEAD of your HTML file. */ Subscribe to the newsletter