Erik Magnusson

Research Interests:

• Family Ethics
• Reproductive Ethics
• Pediatric Ethics
• Intergenerational Ethics
• Public Health Ethics
• Distributive Justice and Health

My research explores how morality applies to the family and regulates the relationships between children, parents, and state institutions. Much of my work has focused on questions surrounding the moral rights and obligations of parents, including how adults come to acquire special rights and/or obligations to parent particular children, what they are morally permitted and/or obligated to do to, for, and with the children under their care, and how their procreative and parenting projects fit within broader accounts of social and distributive justice. I’m interested in how our answers to these questions can help us to resolve contemporary ethical controversies involving procreation and parenthood, including those related to prenatal testing, gamete donation, surrogacy, adoption, wrongful life, and the scope and limits of parental decision-making authority over children’s health and education.

I am the author of Procreative Justice: Balancing the Interests of Parents, Children, and Society (Routledge, 2025), as well as a series of articles on the morality of procreation and parenthood. A full list of my publications can be found on my PhilPeople profile, Google Scholar page, and personal website.