Orange Alert

Samuel Gorovitz

Samuel Gorovitz

Samuel Gorovitz

Professor

CONTACT

Philosophy
430 Hall of Languages
Email: sgcas@syr.edu
Office: 315.443.9331

PROGRAM AFFILIATIONS

Ethics [ILM]

CV
Research and Teaching Interests

Samuel Gorovitz, former dean of Arts and Sciences, led in the development of the field of medical ethics. He has also published extensively on other topics in philosophy and public policy. His advice on college governance and on health policy has been widely sought, and he has given more than 200 invited lectures in many countries on five continents. He led an NEH summer seminar for college teachers in 1984, an NIH regional workshop on research with human subjects in 1989, and several other summer seminars and institutes. He has been a consultant to PBS, the World Health Organization, and many federal agencies. Prof. Gorovitz has often been interviewed on programs such as All Things Considered, the Larry King Show, the Studs Terkel Show, and has been quoted in magazines ranging from Ladies Home Journal to The New Yorker. His publications include more than 130 articles, reviews and editorials in philosophical journals, medical journals, public policy journals, and newspapers. He is a co-author of Philosophical Analysis (Random House, 1964, 1969, 1979), an editor of several anthologies, and author of Doctors' Dilemmas: Moral Conflict and Medical Care (Oxford, 1985) and Drawing the Line: Life, Death, and Ethical Choices in an American Hospital (Oxford, 1991; Temple 1993). Prof. Gorovitz received his B.S. from MIT in 1960 and his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1963. In fall 1996, he served as the Baker-Hostetler Professor of Law at Cleveland Marshall College of Law, and in fall 1998 was Visiting Scholar in the Department of Science and Technology Studies at Cornell University. Since 1988 he has served, by gubernatorial appointment, on the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. He was Dearing-Daly Professor of Bioethics and Humanities at the SUNY Upstate Medical University from 2001-2004. He is Founding Director of the Renée Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse, and for 2004-05 was Visiting Professor of Philosophy and Bioethicist in Residence at Yale. In 2007 he was appointed by New York's governor to the new Empire State Stem Cell Board, which oversees a $600 million commitment to stem cell research in New York State.

Books
Publications
  • "Philosophical Analysis: An Introduction to Its Language and Techniques", with R.G. Williams, D. and M. Provence, Random House, 1965. Second Edition, revised, 1969; Third Edition, with M. Hintikka, D. Provence, and R.G. Williams, 1979.
  • "Freedom and Order in the University (ed. and intro.), Western Reserve University Press, 1967.
  • "Utilitarianism: Text and Commentary (editor and introduction), Bobbs-Merrill, 1971.
  • "Moral Problems in Medicine (senior editor and introduction), Prentice-Hall, 1976. Second Edition, revised, 1983.
  • General Editor, Prentice-Hall Series in Philosophy of Medicine (4 vols.).
  • "Doctor's Dilemmas: Moral Conflict and Medical Care, Macmillan, 1982. Paperback, Galaxy Books, Oxford University Press, 1985.
  • "Drawing the Line: Life, Death, and Ethical Choices in an American Hospital", Oxford University Press, 1991. Paperback, Temple University Press, 1993.
  • "Biomedical Research Ethics: Updating International Research Guidelines" (co-editor), Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, Geneva, 2000.
News
Philosophy Professor Samuel Gorovitz Featured in Oral History Project about the Founding of American Bioethics

(Jan. 8, 2024)

The collection is curated by Johns Hopkins University’s Berman Institute of Bioethics.

Triple Triumph

(Sept. 21, 2017)

New book co-edited by A&S professors Samuel Gorovitz, Cathryn Newton reveals untold stories of three medical pioneers

Syracuse Professor to Receive SUNY Honorary Degree May 22

(April 27, 2016)

Samuel Gorovitz, philosophy professor and former dean, will be recognized for contributions to medical science

An Afternoon in Special Collections

(Jan. 4, 2016)

Honors students explore hidden treasures in Syracuse's Bird Library

Arts in Science; Science in Arts

(April 28, 2015)

Professor Sam Gorovitz shares his artistic side in sculpture, photos