Dr Justin Oakley is a bioethicist and moral philosopher. He has been part of the revival of the ethical doctrine known as virtue ethics

Virtue ethics

Virtue ethics describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior, rather than rules , consequentialism , or social context .The difference between these four approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way moral dilemmas are...

, an Aristotelian

Aristotelianism

Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotle's writings...

 doctrine which has received renewed interest in the past few decades.

Oakley is particularly well-known for his work on professional ethics and also the so-called "problem" of friendship. The problem of friendship looks at how a strict application of impartialist ethical doctrines, such as utilitarianism

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can...

 and Kantianism

Kantianism

Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia . The term Kantianism or Kantian is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics.-Ethics:Kantian ethics are deontological, revolving entirely...

, conflicts with our notions of friendship. In 1995, he published, with Dean Cocking, the now widely-cited article "Indirect Consequentialism, Friendship, and the Problem of Alienation" in the journal Ethics.

Currently, Oakley is Director of the Centre for Human Bioethics

Centre for Human Bioethics

The Centre for Human Bioethics is a research and teaching centre at Monash University, based in the Faculty of Arts. It focusses on the branch of ethics known as bioethics, a field relating to biological science and medicine...

 at Monash University

Monash University

Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....

 and Deputy Head of its School of Philosophy and Bioethics. He joined the Centre in 1990, after graduating from La Trobe University

La Trobe University

La Trobe University is a multi-campus university in Victoria, Australia. It was established in 1964 by an Act of Parliament to become the third oldest university in the state of Victoria. The main campus of La Trobe is located in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora; two other major campuses are...

 with a PhD in Philosophy in 1988.

In 2004, he was awarded the Eureka Prize

Eureka Prizes

The Australian Museum Eureka Prizes are annual Australian science prizes awarded in the fields of scientific research & innovation, science leadership, science communication & journalism and school science. There is also a People's Choice Award which is decided by popular public vote.The finalists...

 for Research in Ethics.

Oakley supports the Australian Rules Football team the Geelong football club

Geelong Football Club

The Geelong Football Club, nicknamed The Cats, is a professional Australian rules football club, named after and based in the city of Geelong, playing in the Australian Football League . The club has been the VFL/AFL premiers nine times, with a record equalling 3 in the AFL era. Geelong has also...

.

Publications

Some of Oakley's most well-known publications include:

• Informed Consent and Clinician Accountability The Ethics of Report Cards on Surgeon Performance, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007 (co-edited with Steve Clarke).
• Bioethics (International Library of Essays in Public and Professional Ethics), Aldershot, Ashgate, 2006 (edited collection).
• Virtue Ethics and Professional Roles, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001 (pbk. 2005) (with Dean Cocking).
• Morality and the Emotions, London, Routledge, 1992