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Up To Date

The Ethics Professors: Congressional Pay & Healthcare

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When thousands of federal employees are being forced to go without a paycheck indefinitely because of inaction in Congress, is it really ethical for members of Congress to keep accepting their own paychecks?

On Thursday's Up to Date, the Ethics Professors join us to discuss that and other issues of murky morals. Should we consider signing up for healthcare part of a civic duty to lower medical costs for everyone? And how should we set a limit when it comes to the cost and scope of treatment?

Guests:

  • Wayne Vaught is dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, professor of philosophy and medicine, and director of the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics at UMKC. His primary research focus is in the area of biomedical ethics, with an emphasis on ethical issues in pediatrics. He received a bachelor's degree in philosophy, psychology and religion at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Ky., a master's in philosophy at Baylor University, and a Ph.D. in philosophy with a concentration in medical ethics from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
  • Clancy Martin is a professor of philosophy at UMKC. He works on 19th and 20th Century European philosophy, the intersections of philosophy and literature, and the ethics of advertising and selling. Clancy has authored, coauthored and edited several books in philosophy, including Love, Lies, and Marriage, Honest Work with Robert Solomon and Joanne Ciulla, and The Philosophy of Deception. He has published more than two dozen articles and reviews on Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Romanticism and the virtue of truthfulness and has also translated Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Clancy also publishes fiction in Noon, McSweeneys and elsewhere. Clancy earned his Ph.D. in 2003 from the University of Texas at Austin.
When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.