Kenneth F. Schaffner, M.D., Ph.D.
University Professor of Medical Humanities and Professor of Philosophy

Office: Gelman Library 709C
Office Hours: T 4-5
Phone: (202) 994-0338 and (202) 994-7299
Email: medhum@gwu.edu

Areas of Interest

  • Philosophy of biology and medicine
  • Conceptual, historical, and social issues of behavioral genetics
  • Philosophy of psychiatry (including research ethics)
  • Bioethics

Primary Courses Taught at GW

  • Philosophy of Medicine (Phil 770)
  • Philosophy of Biology (Phil 780)
  • Ethics and Health Policy (Phil and HSC 775)
  • Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications of the Human Genome Project (Phil and HCS 777)

Selected Publications

  •  Discovery and Explanation in Biology and Medicine.  Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993
  •  “Genes, Behavior, and Developmental Emergentism: One Process, Indivisible?” ;“Model Organisms and Behavioral Genetics: A Rejoinder” Philosophy of Science 65 (June, 1998): 209-252; 276-288
  • “Paradigm Changes in Organ Transplantation: A Journey toward Selflessness?” Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 19 No. 5, Sept, 1998.: 425-440
  •  “Nature and Nurture,” Current Opinion in Psychiatry 14 (Sept, 2001): 486-490
  • “Extrapolation from Animal Models: Social Life, Sex, and Super Models,” in Theory and Method in the Neurosciences (Pitt-Konstanz Colloquium 5, P. K. Machamer, R. Grush, and P. McLaughlin (eds.) Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001. Pp. 200-230
  •  "Preventing severe mental illnesses--new prospects and ethical challenges," with Patrick D. McGorry. Schizophrenia Research Aug 1 2001; 51(1): 3-15
  • “Reductionism, Complexity and Molecular Medicine: Genetic Chips and the 'Globalization' of the Genome,” in Promises & Limits of Reductionism in the Biomedical Sciences. M. Regenmortel and D. Hull (eds.), London: John Wylie, 2002: 323-351

Presentations, Activities, Work in Progress

  • Currently completing final edits on book ms. with working title of Behaving: What’s Genetic and What’s Not, and Why Should We Care? for Oxford University Press, with book to appear in 2004
  • Beginning a National Science Foundation funded project on “ Conceptual and Social History of Behavioral Genetics: 1960-2000 (and beyond)”