[PL 431] The Vaccine War

Celebrities, such as Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey, campaign against vaccination, in particular the MMR vaccine, because they think that there is a causal connection between such vaccines and autism.

Watch The Vaccine War on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

The vaccination-autism controversy raises epistemological and ethical questions that can be looked at from a virtue theoretical perspective:

1. In terms of trait-virtues, such as conscientiousness and open-mindedness, do vaccine deniers have or lack such intellectual virtues?
2. Are vaccine deniers being epistemically virtuous? Are vaccine deniers being epistemically responsible?
3. Are vaccine deniers acting in an ethically virtuous manner? Are they acting in an ethically responsible manner?