Julian Savulescu: revision 1 to 2

Revision 1

Revision 2

categories: ["people", "society"]

tags: ["bioethics", "enhancement", "embryo selection", "moral enhancement", "philosophy"]

summary: "Australian bioethicist who formulated procreative beneficence and, with Ingmar Persson, the argument for moral bioenhancement; the leading academic advocate of human enhancement."

summary: "Australian bioethicist who formulated procreative beneficence and, with Ingmar Persson, the argument for moral bioenhancement; the leading academic advocate of human enhancement."

updated: "2026-07-27"

updated: "2026-08-23"

issues: ["Reception section calls him among the most cited living bioethicists with no source."]

---

```infobox

{ "label": "Education", "value": "MBBS and PhD, Monash University" },

{ "label": "Known for", "value": "Procreative beneficence", "link": "/wiki/procreative-beneficence" },

{ "label": "Field", "value": "Practical ethics" },

{ "label": "Affiliation", "value": "Oxford Uehiro Centre; National University of Singapore" },

{ "label": "Affiliation", "value": "National University of Singapore; University of Oxford" },

{ "label": "Doctoral adviser", "value": "Peter Singer" }

]

}

working on rationality and end-of-life decision-making. He took the Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics

at Oxford in 2002 and founded and directed the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, which

became the main European base for analytic work on enhancement, neuroethics and research ethics. He

edited the *Journal of Medical Ethics* for close to two decades. Since 2022 he has also held a

edited the *Journal of Medical Ethics* for close to two decades. In August 2022 he moved his

chair in medical ethics at the National University of Singapore, directing its Centre for

primary post to the National University of Singapore, where he is the Chen Su Lan Centennial

Biomedical Ethics, and he leads a biomedical ethics group at the Murdoch Children's Research

Professor in Medical Ethics and directs its Centre for Biomedical Ethics, while retaining Oxford

Institute in Melbourne.

and Melbourne affiliations, including a biomedical ethics group at the Murdoch Children's Research

Institute.[^nus2022]

His output is unusually broad for the field: embryo selection, doping, organ donation, conscientious

objection by clinicians, the ethics of research in emergencies, and during the pandemic a prominent

objection by clinicians, the ethics of research in emergencies, and the ethics of pandemic

argument for human challenge trials of vaccines.

response — with Dominic Wilkinson he edited *Pandemic Ethics: From COVID-19 to Disease X*

(2023).[^pw2023]

## Procreative beneficence

## Reception

Savulescu is among the most cited living bioethicists, and the Uehiro Centre trained a generation of

The Uehiro Centre under Savulescu's direction trained a generation of researchers now working on

researchers now working on neuroethics, AI ethics and enhancement. His method is characteristically

neuroethics, AI ethics and enhancement. His method is characteristically

analytic: state a principle, follow it to conclusions most readers dislike, and treat the discomfort

as data about the principle rather than a reason to abandon it. Admirers regard this as intellectual

seriousness. Critics regard the same trait as a willingness to reach eugenic-sounding conclusions

[^ps2008]: `paper` Persson, I. and Savulescu, J. "The Perils of Cognitive Enhancement and the Urgent Imperative to Enhance the Moral Character of Humanity." *Journal of Applied Philosophy*, 2008. {A philosophical argument for a research direction; it reports no data on any intervention that alters moral behaviour.}

[^ps2008]: `paper` Persson, I. and Savulescu, J. "The Perils of Cognitive Enhancement and the Urgent Imperative to Enhance the Moral Character of Humanity." *Journal of Applied Philosophy*, 2008. {A philosophical argument for a research direction; it reports no data on any intervention that alters moral behaviour.}

[^harris2011]: `paper` Harris, J. "Moral Enhancement and Freedom." *Bioethics*, 2011.

[^sav2004]: `paper` Savulescu, J., Foddy, B. and Clayton, M. "Why we should allow performance enhancing drugs in sport." *British Journal of Sports Medicine*, 2004. {An argued policy position in a medical journal, not a study of what doping or its prohibition does to athletes.}

[^sav2004]: `paper` Savulescu, J., Foddy, B. and Clayton, M. "Why we should allow performance enhancing drugs in sport." *British Journal of Sports Medicine*, 2004. {An argued policy position in a medical journal, not a study of what doping or its prohibition does to athletes.}

[^nus2022]: `statement` "Julian Savulescu." Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. {The institution's own profile; it dates the professorship and centre directorship to August 2022.}

[^pw2023]: `book` Savulescu, J. and Wilkinson, D., eds. *Pandemic Ethics: From COVID-19 to Disease X*. Oxford University Press, 2023. {An edited collection with contributions from many authors; cited for the fact and scope of the editorship rather than for any single position.}