Leemon McHenry
Encyclopedia
Leemon McHenry is a bioethicist and a lecturer in philosophy
at California State University, Northridge
, in the United States
. He has taught philosophy at the University of Edinburgh
, Old Dominion University
, Davidson College
, Central Michigan University
, Wittenberg University
and Loyola Marymount University
, and has held visiting research positions at Johns Hopkins University
, UCLA and at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities in the University of Edinburgh. His research interests center on medical ethics
, metaphysics
, and philosophy of science
.
, in Scotland
, where he was Vans Dunlop Scholar in Logic and Metaphysics studying with Professor Timothy L. S. Sprigge.
and process studies. He has devoted attention to Whitehead's attempt to construct a unified general theory from the revolutionary developments in modern physics. McHenry has argued that Whitehead's event ontology is a more adequate basis for achieving this unification than a traditional substance metaphysics of thinkers such as Aristotle. His papers on this subject investigate the influence of Maxwell's electromagnetic field and Einstein's general theory of relativity on the ontology of events.
In medical ethics he has focused attention on the interplay between medicine and the pharmaceutical industry. He has criticized the corporate take over of medicine and the corrupting influence of the pharmaceutical industry on medicine. This includes dubious claims about chemical imbalance as a marketing ploy for selling antidepressants, industry-sponsored clinical research, ghostwriting for medical journals and direct-to-consumer advertising
of pharmaceuticals. In a broader realm, he has argued that the industry-academic partnerships have worsened university research, created increased opportunities for scientific misconduct, and have failed to protect academic freedom.
McHenry has edited several books, authored chapters of numerous academic texts, served as the philosophy review editor for Process Studies (ISBN 0791455734), and participated in the State University of New York
's series in philosophy, which brings together the world’s leading contemporary process and analytic philosophers. He has written articles and reviews for Process Studies, The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Journal of Medical Ethics
,The Review of Metaphysics,Mind
, and The American Rationalist.
In 2007 he became the literary executor to the late Professor Timothy Sprigge.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge is a public university in Northridge, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California, United States....
, in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He has taught philosophy at the University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University
Old Dominion University is a state university located in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools...
, Davidson College
Davidson College
Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. The college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently ranked in the top ten liberal arts colleges in the country by U.S. News and World Report magazine, although it has recently dropped to 11th in U.S. News...
, Central Michigan University
Central Michigan University
Central Michigan University is a public research university located in Mount Pleasant in the U.S. state of Michigan...
, Wittenberg University
Wittenberg University
Wittenberg University is a private four-year liberal arts college in Springfield, Ohio serving 2,000 full-time students representing 37 states and approximately 30 foreign countries...
and Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University is a comprehensive co-educational private Roman Catholic university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions located in Los Angeles, California, United States...
, and has held visiting research positions at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University
The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...
, UCLA and at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities in the University of Edinburgh. His research interests center on medical ethics
Medical ethics
Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology.-History:Historically,...
, metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, and philosophy of science
Philosophy of science
The philosophy of science is concerned with the assumptions, foundations, methods and implications of science. It is also concerned with the use and merit of science and sometimes overlaps metaphysics and epistemology by exploring whether scientific results are actually a study of truth...
.
Education
McHenry received his doctorate from the University of EdinburghUniversity of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a public research university located in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university...
, in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, where he was Vans Dunlop Scholar in Logic and Metaphysics studying with Professor Timothy L. S. Sprigge.
Writings
Much of McHenry's philosophical work focuses on the philosophy of Alfred North WhiteheadAlfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead, OM FRS was an English mathematician who became a philosopher. He wrote on algebra, logic, foundations of mathematics, philosophy of science, physics, metaphysics, and education...
and process studies. He has devoted attention to Whitehead's attempt to construct a unified general theory from the revolutionary developments in modern physics. McHenry has argued that Whitehead's event ontology is a more adequate basis for achieving this unification than a traditional substance metaphysics of thinkers such as Aristotle. His papers on this subject investigate the influence of Maxwell's electromagnetic field and Einstein's general theory of relativity on the ontology of events.
In medical ethics he has focused attention on the interplay between medicine and the pharmaceutical industry. He has criticized the corporate take over of medicine and the corrupting influence of the pharmaceutical industry on medicine. This includes dubious claims about chemical imbalance as a marketing ploy for selling antidepressants, industry-sponsored clinical research, ghostwriting for medical journals and direct-to-consumer advertising
Direct-to-consumer advertising
Direct-to-consumer advertising usually refers to the marketing of pharmaceutical products but can apply in other areas as well. This form of advertising is directed toward patients, rather than healthcare professionals. The Food and Drug Administration holds responsibility of regulating DTC...
of pharmaceuticals. In a broader realm, he has argued that the industry-academic partnerships have worsened university research, created increased opportunities for scientific misconduct, and have failed to protect academic freedom.
McHenry has edited several books, authored chapters of numerous academic texts, served as the philosophy review editor for Process Studies (ISBN 0791455734), and participated in the State University of New York
State University of New York
The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
's series in philosophy, which brings together the world’s leading contemporary process and analytic philosophers. He has written articles and reviews for Process Studies, The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Journal of Medical Ethics
Journal of Medical Ethics
The Journal of Medical Ethics is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of bioethics established in 1975. , its editors are Søren Holm and John Harris ....
,The Review of Metaphysics,Mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
, and The American Rationalist.
In 2007 he became the literary executor to the late Professor Timothy Sprigge.
Controversy at Wittenberg
In 1995, McHenry was denied tenure at Wittenberg University. The administration overruled the positive judgment of the faculty (teaching, research and service) on the basis that the chair of the department needed to be replaced and the only way to do so was to use McHenry's position to hire a new chair from outside the department. This decision led to the censure of the Wittenberg administration by the (APA) American Philosophical Association and caused a major overhaul of the tenure process at Wittenberg. The APA argued that this decision introduced a fourth ad hoc criterion for tenure that was previously unannounced, entirely novel and not applied uniformly to all candidates for tenure. The (AAUP) American Association of University Professors declined to impose censure on Wittenberg.Publications
- 1992, Whitehead and Bradley: A Comparative Analysis, SUNY Series in Systematic Philosophy, Albany: State University of New YorkState University of New YorkThe State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
Press. - 1996, "Descriptive and Revisionary Theories of Events", Process Studies, 25, p. 90-103
- 2002, British Philosophers: 1800-2000, ed. with P. Dematteis and P. Fosl, London and Detroit: Gale.
- 2002, American Philosophers to 1950, ed. with P. Dematteis, London and Detroit: Gale.
- 2003, Reflections on Philosophy: Introductory Essays, ed. with T. Yagisawa, New York: Longman.
- 2004, "The Case Against Catholicism: A Historical and Philosophical Analysis," The American Rationalist, Part 1, July/August, pp. 8–10, Part 2, September/October, pp. 6–10.
- 2005, "On the Origin of Great Ideas: Science in the Age of Big Pharma," Hastings Center ReportHastings Center ReportSince 1971, the Hastings Center Report has been one of the leading journals of bioethics in the United States. It is published six times each year by the Hastings Center in Garrison, New York. Gregory Kaebnick is the current editor....
, vol 35, no 6, p 17-19 - 2006, "Ethical Issues in PsychopharmacologyPsychopharmacologyPsychopharmacology is the scientific study of the actions of drugs and their effects on mood, sensation, thinking, and behavior...
", Journal of Medical EthicsJournal of Medical EthicsThe Journal of Medical Ethics is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of bioethics established in 1975. , its editors are Søren Holm and John Harris ....
vol 32, p 405-410 - 2007, "Maxwell's Field and Whitehead's Events: The Adventure of a Revolutionary Idea" in Subjectivity, Process, and Rationality edited by M. Weber and P. Basile, Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag.
- 2007, "Commercial Influences on the Pursuit of Wisdom," London Review of Education, vol. 5, no 2, p. 131-142; reprinted and translated into Spanish by Antoni Furió as “La mercantilización del saber: Influencias mercantiles en la búsqueda del conocimiento,” Pasajes: Revista de Pensamiento Contemporaneo, 33, 2010, pp. 31-41.
- 2007, Consciousness, Reality and Value: Essays in Honour of T. L. S. Sprigge, ed. with P. Basile, Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag.
- 2008, "Clinical Trials and Drug Promotion: Selective Reporting of Study 329," with Jon N. Jureidini and Peter R. Mansfield, International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, vol. 20, pp. 73–81
- 2008, "Industry-Sponsored Ghostwriting in Clinical Reporting: A Case Study," with Jon N. Jureidini, Accountability in Research, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 152–167
- 2008, “Biomedical Research and Corporate Interests: A Question of Academic Freedom,” Mens Sana MonographsMens Sana MonographsThe Mens Sana Monographs is an open-access peer-reviewed medical journal-cum-monographic series. It is Devoted to the Understanding of Medicine, Mental Health, Mind, Man and their Matrix. The Mens Sana Monographs (MSM) is an open-access peer-reviewed medical journal-cum-monographic series. It is...
, 6, pp. 146–156. - 2009, "Popper and Maxwell on Scientific Progress," Science and the Pursuit of Wisdom: Studies in the Philosophy of Nicholas Maxwell, ed. by L. McHenry, Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, pp. 233–248.
- 2010, "Of Sophists and Spin-Doctors: Industry-Sponsored Ghostwriting and the Crisis of Academic Medicine," Mens Sana MonographsMens Sana MonographsThe Mens Sana Monographs is an open-access peer-reviewed medical journal-cum-monographic series. It is Devoted to the Understanding of Medicine, Mental Health, Mind, Man and their Matrix. The Mens Sana Monographs (MSM) is an open-access peer-reviewed medical journal-cum-monographic series. It is...
, 8, pp. 129–145. - 2010, "Sprigge's Ontology of Consciousness," The Metaphysics of Consciousness ed by P. Basile, J. Kiverstein,P. Phemister, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 5–20.
- 2011, "The Multiverse Conjecture: Whitehead’s Cosmic Epochs and Contemporary Cosmology” Process Studies 40.1.
External links
- CSUN.edu - Leemon McHenry's CSUN faculty homepage, Philosophy Department
- AnthonyFlood.com - 'A review of Leemon McHenry, Whitehead and Bradley: A Comparative Analysis', Lewis S. Ford
- http://www.hist-analytic.org/Sprigge3.htm -- Timothy Sprigge website
- http://www.whiteheadresearch.com/about/intl-board.shtml --Whitehead Research Institute
- http://www.philosophy.ed.ac.uk -- University of Edinburgh Philosophy Department