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Dr. David B. Fletcher
Associate Professor of Philosophy
On faculty since 1981

Phone: 630-752-5890
Fax: 630-752-7777
Email: David.B.Fletcher@wheaton.edu


Education

Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1984

M.A. Philosophy, Loyola University of Chicago, 1980

B.A. Trinity College, Deerfield, Illinois, 1973
       Wright College, City Colleges of Chicago, 1970-71

 
Professional and Personal Interests
Dr. Fletcher is interested ethical theory, particularly deontological and rights theories. He is researching a range of bioethical issues, including such new developments as the genetic, biological, and technological enhancement of human beings as well as traditional concerns about justice in access to health care, and is interested in the ethical methodology used to address bioethical concerns. He is working on the “private vices” of gambling, alcohol, drugs, and tobacco as matters of personal ethics and social policy.

Personally, Dr. Fletcher has a strong avocational interest in liturgy, writing a liturgy column for a church paper and having taught a liturgy course to church musicians. He enjoys guitar playing, travel, theater, history, and humor, particularly the writings of P. G. Wodehouse. He is on the board of his church and is active in adult Christian education.


Courses Taught

  • Ethical Theory
  • Bioethics
  • Ethics, Law, and Society
  • Philosophy of Law
  • Marxism
  • Plato Seminar
  • Existentialism
  • Humanism
  • Issues and Worldviews in Philosophy
  • Aesthetics 
  • Asian Philosophy
  • Business Ethics
  • Social Philosophy
  • Social and Legal Philosophy
  • Internship

Membership in Professional Societies

  • American Philosophical Association
  • Illinois Philosophical Association; Vice President, 1996-1999.
  • The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity
  • Christian Medical and Dental Society
  • Chicago Center for Clinical Ethics
  • Society of Christian Philosophers
  • Institute of Society, Ethics, and the Life Sciences (Hastings Center)

Research
What are the moral foundations to which individuals and societies can appeal to address moral issues? What is the relationship between philosophical ethics that is in principle available to all and the morality of the Christian community? How are Christians to approach public debates regarding medicine, medical science, and biotechnology? These issues, which lie at the intersection of ethical theory, applied ethics, and social philosophy, are at the heart of Dr. Fletcher’s research.

His professional interest in bioethics began with his teaching assistant duties in a bioethics course in the mid 1970s and led to his writing a dissertation on the ethics of human subjects research at the University of Illinois. Bioethical issues occupied Dr. Fletcher as Visiting Scholar at Oxford University in 1991. He applies his research in bioethics in his service on ethics committees and consulting on clinical ethical issues both at Central DuPage Hospital and at Fairview Ministries, a retirement and nursing facility. He teaches at the graduate level in the bioethics program at Trinity International University, where is a Fellow of the Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. He helped to found The Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College and today chairs its Steering Committee, was Vice President of the Illinois Philosophical Association (1997-1999), and serves on the editorial board of Ethics & Medicine. He is a frequent speaker to medical and community groups on bioethics. He has published in ethical theory, bioethics, and social philosophy, and has been interviewed for articles in U.S. News and World Report, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Sun-Times, and has appeared on television.

Papers Published and/or Presented (selected)
    Dissertation

  • Ethical Aspects of Human Subject Research in Biomedicine, Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, James Wallace, Director (University Microfilms, 1984)

    Books and Book Chapters
  • Private Vices, Public Consequences, currently under contract with Wm B Eerdmans "Foreword," in Leone Nunley with Dan Merrill , Fighting for David, Tyndale House Publishers, March 2006.
  • "Substance Abuse," in Erwin Fahlbusch Jan Mili? Lochman, John Mbiti, Jaroslav Pelikan , Lukas Vischer , Geoffrey W. Bromiley David B. Barrett, The Encyclopedia of Christianity, forthcoming.
  • "Unsociable Cyborgs," in Christopher Hook, ed., Remaking Humanity? A Technological and Ethical Review of Re-Engineering Technology, Georgetown University Press, forthcoming
  • "Particular Divine Commands" in Mark Nelson, Michael Beaty, and Carlton Fisher, eds. , Christianity and Moral Philosophy (Mercer University Press, 1999)
  • Social and Political Perspectives in the Thought of Soren Kierkegaard (University Press of America, 1981)
  • "How a Christian Thinks about Medical Ethical Issues," with Jay Hollman, MD, in Jay Hollman, ed., New Issues in Medical Ethics (Russian edition, distributed overseas), 1997.
  • Is There a Right to Health Care? (Center for Applied Christian Ethics Monographs, Wheaton College, 1991 [text for interdisciplinary course]) (with Mark R. Elliott), Christianity and Marxism (Wheaton College, 1987)
  • “Communism,” in Campbell Campbell-Jack, Gavin McGrath, and C. Stephen Evans, eds., New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics (Intervarsity Press UK and US), release 3/06)
  • “Professional Ethics,” “Population Policy,” “Dehumanization,” Professional Ethics," "Karl Marx," "Alienation," "Reproductive Technology," "Sterilization," "Birth Control," "Medical Malpractice," "Martin Luther King, Jr.," and "Surrogate Mothers." in David J. Atkinson, David F. Field, Arthur Holmes, and Oliver O'Donovan, eds; New Dictionary of Christian Ethics and Pastoral Theology (Intervarsity Press, 1995).
  • "Abortion and American Christianity" and "Protestant Personal Ethics" in Daniel Reid, Robert D. Linder, Bruce L. Shelley, and Harry S. Stout, eds., Dictionary of Christianity in America, (Intervarsity Press, 1990)
  • "Utilitarianism," "Polytheism," "Philosophy of Religion," "Unbelief," "Metaphysics," "Monism," "Understanding," and "Voluntarism," in Walter Elwell, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, (Grand Rapids, Baker, 1984, revised 1997)
Additional Publications