Gerald Dworkin is a Professor of moral, political and legal philosophy. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of California

University of California

The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...

, Davis. He has also taught at Harvard, MIT, and the University of Illinois, Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. He has been a visiting Fellow of All Souls College (Oxford), the
Australian National University

Australian National University

The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...

, and the Hastings Center. He was the Centennial Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

. In 2006, he was a Distinguished Visitor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong where he gave a series of lectures on Paternalism.

His main areas of research include the nature and justification of autonomy

Autonomy

Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...

, paternalism in the criminal law, and the issue of which acts may legitimately be criminalised by the state.

His most recent book is a defense of Physician-Assisted Suicide. In it he argues that doctors who approve of withdrawing patients from life support at their request, or administering pain-relief medication that is foreseen to kill the patient, or who approve of terminal sedation, are inconsistent if they condemn physician-assisted suicide. This book has been published in Spanish and Korean language editions.

He is no relation to either Ronald

Ronald Dworkin

Ronald Myles Dworkin, QC, FBA is an American philosopher and scholar of constitutional law. He is Frank Henry Sommer Professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University and Emeritus Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London, and has taught previously at Yale Law School and the...

 or Andrea

Andrea Dworkin

Andrea Rita Dworkin was an American radical feminist and writer best known for her criticism of pornography, which she argued was linked to rape and other forms of violence against women....

Dworkin, other scholars whose work often considers similar areas to his.