Global Ethics Lecture – Prof. Larry S. Temkin

Date: Friday, 30 May 2025
Time: 5pm – 6pm
Venue: NUHS Tower Block, Auditorium, Level 1

Abstract

This talk presents one particular conception of egalitarianism, which I call Equality as Comparative Fairness, and discusses various important issues regarding the relation between equality, health, and health care.  Among the issues discussed are the role that health should play in thinking about equality and vice versa; the importance of giving weight to both equality of wellbeing and equality of opportunity; the relation between equality of opportunity and the “first come, first served” principle in the delivery of health care; and the relations between equality, fairness, luck, individual responsibility, and rationing in the context of scarce medical resources.  The talk illuminates the appeal of certain egalitarian considerations, as well as the possible relevance and implications of those considerations for health, health policy, and the distribution of health care.

Prof. Larry S. Temkin

Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus,
Rutgers University

Biography

Larry S. Temkin is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Rutgers.  He graduated number one from the University of Wisconsin/Madison, before pursuing graduate studies at Oxford and Princeton.  Temkin is the author of Inequality, Rethinking the Good:  Moral Ideals and the Nature of Practical Reasoning, and Being Good in a World of Need.  Temkin delivered Oxford’s 2017 Uehiro Lectures, and has lectured for the World Health Organization, the World Bank, the NIH, and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.  Temkin’s individualistic approach to inequality has been adopted by the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation in measuring the Global Burden of Disease.  Temkin has received fellowships from Harvard’s Safra Center for Ethics, All Souls College, the NIH, the ANU, the National Humanities Center, the Danforth Foundation, Corpus Christi College Oxford, and Princeton’s Center for Human Values, where he was Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Professor for Distinguished Teaching.

Continuing Professional Education

Non-core CME point is pending for approval for doctors.
CPE point is pending for approval for nurses and pharmacists.

Venue

NUHS Tower Block, Auditorium, Level 1

For any questions relating to this event, please contact Rosnizah Binte Mohd Ali (medrma@nus.edu.sg)

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