1
DAVID T. WASSERMAN
RECENT EMPLOYMENT
2013- Faculty, Department of Bioethics, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
2007-14 Yeshiva University, New York, NY, Director of Research, Center for Ethics
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES; MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
• Editorial Board, Ethics, Journal of Applied Philosophy
• Fellow, Hastings Center for Bioethics
• Vice President, Society for Philosophy and Disability
• Member: American Philosophical Association; Member, APA Committee on Law and Philosophy;
American Society for Bioethics and the Humanities; District of Columbia and New York Bars.
PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS
Books:
(Edited with Adam Cureton) Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Disability New York, Oxford
University Press, (forthcoming).
(with David Benatar) Debating Procreation New York: Oxford University Press (2015).
(Edited with Melinda Roberts): Harming Future Persons: Ethics, Genetics, and the Nonidentity Problem,
Springer, 2009.
(Edited with Robert Wachbroit and Jerome Bickenbach) Quality of Life and Human Difference: Genetic
Testing, Health Care, and Disability (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
(With Anita Silvers and Mary Mahowald) Disability, Difference, Discrimination (Lanham: Rowman &
Littlefield, 1998).
Articles, Book Chapters, Book Reviews (*=first author)
(with Kevin Mintz) Review of E. F. Kittay, Learning from My Daughter: The Value and Care of Disabled
Minds (Oxford Scholarship Online, 2019), Hastings Center Report (forthcoming).
(with Jerome Wakefield and Jordan Conrad, “Neurodiversity, Autism, and Psychiatric Disability: The
Harmful Dysfunction Perspective,” in Oxford Handbook of Philosophy and Disability, Adam
Cureton and David Wasserman, eds, New York, Oxford University Press, (forthcoming).
(with Stephen Campbell) “A Symmetrical View of Disability and Enhancement,” in Oxford Handbook of
Philosophy and Disability, Adam Cureton and David Wasserman, eds, New York, Oxford
University Press, (forthcoming).
(with Caroline Huang) “Chronic Pain as a Challenge for Disability Theory and Practice” in Disability,
Health, Law, and Bioethics, Carmel Shachar, I. Glenn Cohen, and Michael Ashley Stein, eds. New
York: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming, pp. 129-139.
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"A Case for Greater Risk Tolerance in Internet Use by Adults with Intellectual Disabilities: A Comment
on Chalghoumi et al." Ethics & Behavior 29, no. 3 (2019): 223-226.
“Fetal Medicine and the Pregnant Woman.” Hastings Center Report 2018; 48(2).
"Can a Social Model of Disability Encompass Mental Illness?" In From Disability Theory to Practice:
Essays in Honor of Jerome E. Bickenbach. C. Riddle, ed. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018 (pp. 75-99).
Review of Ingmar Persson, Inclusive Ethics: Extending Beneficence and Egalitarian Justice. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2017. Pp. 288. $70.00." (2018): 651-657.
Review of Elizabeth Barnes, The Minority Body: A Theory of Disability. (2018): 251-256.
(with Caroline Huang). "Deception, Harm, and Expectations of Pain." AJOB Neuroscience 9, no. 3
(2018): 188.
*(with Stephen Campbell) ‘An ‘Inclusive’ View of Disability and Enhancement,” Ethics of Ability and
Enhancement, Flanigan J, Price TL, eds., 2018 (pp. 25-38). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.
“Physical Disability, Dignity, and Physician-Assisted Death,” in Human Dignity and Assisted Death,
Muders S, ed., (pp. 85-104) Oxford University Press; 2017 Oct 20.
Review of Sarah Conley, One Child: Do We Have a Right to More? Oxford University Press, 2016, 248
pages. Economics & Philosophy. 2017 Jan:1-7.
Review of Dominic Wilkinson, Death or Disability: The Carmentis Machine and Decision-Making for
Critically Ill Children, Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, 2017;27(1):E-4.
“Justice, Procreation, and the Costs of Having and Raising Disabled Children” in Oxford Handbook of
Reproductive Ethics, Francis L, ed., pp. 464-477. (Published online April, 2016).
“The Better to Rear You With, My Dear: Improved Parenting though Biomedical Modification” Kennedy
Institute of Ethics Journal (special issue on “Choosing Disability,” Stephen Campbell and Lance
Wahlert, eds.; forthcoming)
(with Adrienne Asch, Jeff Blustein, and Daniel Putnam, “Cognitive disability and moral status,” The
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
<https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2017/entries/cognitive-disability/>.
*(with Sean Aas) “Disability Discrimination: Three Aspects, Two Levels” in Routledge Handbook to
Discrimination, Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, ed. (forthcoming).
(with Caroline Huang), Considering Consent to Research for Patients in Chromic Pain and with Mental
Illness, The American Journal of Bioethics 17:12, 2017, pages 51-52.
(with Tyler John and Joseph Millum), “How to Allocate Scarce Health Resources without Discriminating
against People with Disabilities”. Economics & Philosophy. 2017 Jul;33(2):161-86.
(with Stephanie Chen) “A Framework for Unrestricted Prenatal Whole-Genome Sequencing: Respecting
and Enhancing the Autonomy of Prospective Parents" (Target Article) American Journal of
Bioethics 17 (1): 3-18 (Published online December 20, 2016).
(with Stephanie Chen) Response to Open Peer Commentaries on “A Framework for Unrestricted Prenatal
Whole-Genome Sequencing: Respecting and Enhancing the Autonomy of Prospective Parents"
American Journal of Bioethics 17 (1): W1-W3 (Published online December 20, 2016).
“Disability.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Philosophy. Ed. Duncan Pritchard. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2016.
(with Daniel Sharp) "Deep Brain Stimulation, Historicism, and Moral Responsibility." Neuroethics
(2016): 1-13.
(with Sean Aas) "Disability, Disease, and Health Sufficiency." What Is Enough? Sufficiency, Justice, and
Health (2016): 164.
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*(with Sean Aas). "BCIs and Disability: Enhancement, Environmental Modification, and Embodiment."
Brain-Computer Interfaces 3.3 (2016): 126-132.
*(with Adrienne Asch, Jeffrey Blustein, and Daniel Putnam) “Disability: Well-Being, Health, and
Personal Relationships” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (plato.stanford.edu).
(with Sean Aas) “Natural and Social Inequality, Journal of Moral Philosophy online, 2015.
"Disability Perspectives." In Prenatal and Preimplantation Diagnosis, pp. 229-245. Springer International
Publishing, 2015.
(with Sean Aas). Brain–computer interfaces and disability: extending embodiment, reducing stigma?.
Journal of medical ethics. 2015 Sep 3:medethics-2015.
(with Adrienne Asch "Reproductive Testing for Disability" in Routledge Companion to Bioethics John
Arras, Elizabeth Fenton, and Rebecca Kukla, eds. (2014).
"Genetics" in Keywords in Disability Studies Rachel Adams, Benjamin Reiss, and David Serlin, eds. New
York: New York University Press (2014).
(with Ari Schick and Adrienne Asch) "Models of Disability" in Encyclopedia of Bioethics (4th Ed.) Bruce
Jennings, ed. (2014).
"Is Disability Discrimination Different?" in Philosophical Foundations of Discrimination Law Deborah
Hellman and Sophie Moreau, eds. New York: Oxford University Press (2013): Ch 13, 2
*(with Adrienne Asch) "Understanding the Relationship between Disability and Well-Being" in
Disability and the Good Human Life Jerome Bickenbach, Franziska Felder, and Barbara Schmitz,
eds., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2013): Ch. 6, 139-69.
(with Adrienne Asch) “Reproductive Technology,” in LaFollette, H.ed., International Encyclopedia of
Ethics (2013).
*(with Adrienne Asch) “Disabilities, People with” International Encyclopedia of Ethics (2013).
*(with Adrienne Asch) "Reproductive Medicine and Turner Syndrome: Ethical Issues" Fertility and
Sterility 98 (2012): 792 -796.
*(with Adrienne Asch, Jeffrey Blustein, and Daniel Putnam) “Disability: Justice and Identity” Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy (plato.stanford.edu).
Ethics of Human Enhancement and its Relevance to Disability Rights" In Encyclopedia of the Life
Sciences (eLS) John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK (September, 2012).
*(with Jeff McMahan) “Cognitive Surrogacy, Assisted Participation, and Moral Status,” Medicine and
Social Justice, Second Edition, Rosamond Rhodes, Margaret Battin, and Anita Silvers, eds. (Oxford,
Oxford University Press, 2012).
“Aggregation and the Moral Relevance of Context in Health-Care Decision Making,” in Medicine and
Social Justice, Second Edition, Rosamond Rhodes, Margaret Battin, and Anita Silvers, eds. (Oxford,
Oxford University Press, 2012).
(with Dorit Barlevy, Kathleen Erskine, Marina Stolerman, and Siobhan Dolan) “Reproductive Decision
Making and Genetic Predisposition to Sudden Cardiac Death,”. AJOB Primary Research 3(3): 30-29,
2012.
(with Cohen, L.L., Stolerman, M., Walsh, C., and Dolan, S. “Challenges of Genetic Testing in
Adolescents with Cardiac Arrhythmia Syndromes” Journal of Medical Ethics, published online
September 27, 2011.
“He Did It on Hot Dogs and Beer: Natural Excellence in Human Athletic Achievement”, In Kaebnick, G.
(Ed.), Appeals to Nature (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2011).
“Is Racial Profiling More Benign in Medicine than Law Enforcement?”Journal of Ethics (Online First,
December 2010).
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*(with Robert Wachbroit). (Guest Editors) Special Issue of Law, Probability and Risk on Probability and
Risk in Bioethics 9(3/4), 2010.
“The Justifiability of Racial Classification and Generalizations in Contemporary Clinical and Research
Practice.” Law, Probability and Risk on Probability and Risk in Bioethics 9 (3/4) 215-226.
*(with Adrienne Asch, Jeffrey Blustein, and Daniel Putnam) “Cognitive Disability and Moral Status”
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (plato.stanford.edu).
*(with Adrienne Asch, Jeffrey Blustein, and Daniel Putnam) “Disability: Definitions, Models,
Experience” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (plato.stanford.edu).
(With Adrienne Asch) "Making Embryos Healthy or Making Healthy Embryos: Differences Between
Prenatal Treatment and Selection." In The Healthy Embryo (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
2010).
“Ethical Constraints on Allowing or Causing the Existence of People with Disabilities.” In Brownlee, K.
and Cureton, A. (Eds.), Disability and Disadvantage: Essays in Contemporary Moral and Political
Philosophy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2009.
“Harming Future People and Reproductive Intentions,” Harming Future Persons: Ethics, Genetics, and
the Nonidentity Problem, Springer, 2009.
“Hare on De Dicto Betterness and Prospective Parents.” Ethics 118(3) April, 2008.
(With Adrienne Asch and Jeff Blustein) “Criticizing and Reforming Segregated Facilities for People with
Disabilities,” Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 5 (2/3): 157-167 June, 2008.
(With Matthew Liao and Julian Savulescu) “The Ethics of Enhancement” [Introduction to Special Issue]
Journal of Applied Philosophy 23 (3): 159-161 August, 2008.
(With Matthew Liao) “Issues in the Pharmacological Induction of Emotions,” Journal of Applied
Philosophy 23 (3): 179-192 August, 2008.
*(with Adrienne Asch, and Jerome Bickenbach) "Mending, Not Ending Cost-Effectiveness
Analysis" Disabled People and the Right to Life Luke Clements and Janet Read, eds. (2008): Ch. 2,
30.
(With Adrienne Asch) “A Response to Mahowald and Nelson” and ‘Reply to Nelson” in “Great Debates”,
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 16 (4): 468-475; 487-482, October, 2007.
(With Nien-He Hsieh and Alan Strudler) “Pairwise Comparison and Numbers Skepticism”, Utilitas 19
(3)(September, 2007).
(With Nien-He-Hsieh and Alan Studler) The Numbers Problem, Philosophy and Public Affairs 34 (4):
352-372 (2006).
“The Nonidentity Problem, Disability, and the Role Morality of Prospective Parents,” Ethics Vol. 116
(2005)
(with Adrienne Asch) "Where is the Sin in Synecdoche?" in Quality of Life and Human Difference:
Genetic Testing, Health Care, and Disability. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
“Disability, Capability, and Distributive Justice,” in Alexander Kaufman, ed. Capability Equality,
(Routledge, 2005).
“Making Memory Lose Its Sting,” Philosophy & Public Policy Quarterly Vol. 24 (4) Fall, 2004.
“Addiction and Disability: Moral and Policy Issues” in Substance Abuse and Misuse (Vol. 39,2004).
“Is There Value in Identifying Genetic Predispositions to Violence?” Journal of Law. Medicine, and
Ethics (Vol. 32, Spring, 2004).
“This Old House: The Human Genome and Human Body as Objects of Historic Preservation,” Politics
and the Life Sciences (Vol. 22 (1), March 2003.
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“My Fair Baby: What’s Wrong with Parents Genetically Enhancing Their Children?” In V. Gehring, ed.,
Genetic Prospects: Issues on Biotechnology, Ethics, and Public Policy (Rowman & Littlefield,
2003).
“Having One Child to Save Another: A Tale of Two Families,” Philosophy and Public Policy Quarterly
(Vol. 23, Winter/Spring 2003).
(With Robert Wachbroit) "Ethical Issues in Reproductive Technology," in Oxford Handbook of Practical
Ethics, ed. Hugh LaFollette (Oxford University Press, 2003).
*(With Alan Strudler)"Can A Nonconsequentialist Count Lives?" Philosophy & Public Affairs 31 (1)
(Winter, 2003).
"A Choice of Evils in Prenatal Testing," Florida Law Review 30 (2) (Winter, 2003).
"Personal Identity and the Moral Appraisal of Prenatal Genetic Therapy," in Mutating Concepts, Evolving
Disciplines: Genetics, Medicine, and Society, Lisa Parker and Rachel Ankeny, eds, (Kluwer, 2002).
"Killing Mary to Save Jodie: Conjoined Twins and Individual Rights," Philosophy and Public Policy
Quarterly 21 (1): 9-14 (Winter, 2001).
“Philosophical Issues in the Definition and Social Response to Disability,” Handbook of Disability
Studies (Sage Publications, 2001).
“Stigma Without Impairment: Demedicalizing Disability Discrimination,” Americans with Disabilities:
Exploring the Implications of the Law for Individuals and Institutions (New York: Routledge, 2000).
(with Anita Silvers) “Competence and Convention: Disability Rights in Sports and Education,” Report
from the Institute for Philosophy & Public Policy, Vol. 18. No. 4 (Fall, 1998).
"Public Funding for Science and Art: Censorship, Social Harm, and the Case of Genetic Research into
Crime and Violence," in Censorship and Silencing: Practices of Cultural Regulation, Robert Post,
ed. (Santa Monica: Getty Research Institute, 1998).
"The Procedural Turn: Social Heuristics and Neutral Values," in Procedural Justice (Onati International
Series in Law and Society), Klaus Rohl and Stefan Machura, eds. (Aldershot, UK: Dartmouth,
1997).
"The Concept of Discrimination" in Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics (San Diego: Academic Press, 1997).
(With Suzanne Bianchi, Judith Lichtenberg, and Robert Wachbroit) Counting Race and Ethnicity:
Options for the 2000 Census, Report from the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, Vol. 17,
No. 3 (Summer, 1997).
"Diversity and Stereotyping," Report from the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy Vol. 17, No. 1/2
(April, 1997).
"Commemoration and Disavowal," Report from the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy Vol. 16,
No. 3/4 (Summer/Fall 1996).
"Let Them Eat Chances: Probability and Distributive Justice," Economics & Philosophy Vol. 12, No. 1
(April, 1996).
"Racial Generalizations and Police Discretion" in Handled With Discretion: Ethical Issues in Police
Decision Making, John Kleinig, ed., (Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield, 1996).
"Some Moral Issues in the Correction of Impairments," Journal of Social Philosophy, Vol. 27, No. 2
(Fall, 1996)
"Research into Genetics and Crime: Consensus and Controversy," Politics and the Life Sciences, Vol. 15,
No.1 (March, 1996).
(with Robert Wachbroit) "Patient Autonomy and Value Neutrality in Nondirective Genetic Counseling,"
Stanford Journal of Law and Social Policy Vol. 6, No. 2 (1995).
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(with Alan Strudler) "The First Dogma of Deontology: Quinn on Doing and Allowing," Philosophical
Studies Vol. 80, (1995).
*(with Robert Wachbroit) "Defining Families: The Impact of Reproductive Technology," Report From
the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, Vol. 13, No. 3 (Summer 1993): 3-8.
"DNA Fingerprinting," In: Encyclopedia of Bioethics (Rev. Ed.) New York: Macmillan, 1993.
Disabilities, Discrimination, and Fairness," Report From the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy,
Vol. 13, No. 1/2 (Winter/Spring 1993): 7-12.
(with David Luban and Alan Strudler) "Moral Responsibility in the Age of Bureaucracy." Michigan Law
Review, Vol. 90, No. 8 (August 1992):2348-2392.
*(with Robert Wachbroit) "The Ethics, Law, and Technology of IVF, Surrogate Parentage, and Gamete
Donation," In: Clinics in Laboratory Medicine: Technology Applied to Problems of Human
Reproduction, Vol. 12, No. 3: 429-448, September, 1992.
"The Morality of Statistical Proof and the Risk of Mistaken Liability," Cardozo Law Review 13:935-976,
1991.
"Reply to Cohen: Common Sense About Naked Statistics," Cardozo Law Review 13:981-986, 1991.
"Ward Edwards and the New Bayesian Software," Cardozo Law Review 13:1075-1079, 1991.
(with Richard Lempert and Reid Hastie) "Hindsight and Causality," Personality and Social Psychology
Bulletin 17:30-35, 1991.
"Should a Good Lawyer Do the Right Thing?," Maryland Law Review, 49(2):392-423, 1990.
"Justifying Self-Defense," Philosophy and Public Affairs, 16:356-378, 1987.
REVIEWER FOR:
Canadian Journal of Philosophy; Ethical Theory & Moral Practice; Ethical Perspectives; Ethics; Hypatia;
Journal of Applied Philosophy; Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy; Journal of Moral Philosophy;
Journal of Philosophy; Journal of Social Philosophy; Law and Philosophy; Neuroethics; Mind; Oxford
University Press; Pacific Philosophical Quarterly; Philosophical Review; Philosophical Studies;
Philosophy Compass; Philosophy and Phenomenological Research; Public Affairs Quarterly; Ratio; Nous;
Utilitas; Social Theory and Practice; Southern Journal of Philosophy