Carl Elliott (born July 25, 1961) is an American academic working as a professor in department of philosophy at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Early life and education

A native of

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, Elliott was educated at

Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, where he received his PhD in philosophy. He received his MD from the

Medical University of South Carolina The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) is a public medical school in Charleston, South Carolina. It opened in 1824 as a small private college aimed at training physicians and has since established hospitals and medical facilities acros ...

Career

Prior to his appointment at the University of Minnesota in 1997 he was on the faculty of

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

in Montreal. He has held postdoctoral or visiting appointments at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university in Greenville, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of universities in North Carolina by enrollment, fourth largest university in North Carolina and the only one in the state with s ...

, the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and the University of Natal Medical School (now the Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine), the first medical school in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

for non-white students. Elliott received a Guggenheim Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar Award in 2018. He was the Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History at the John W. Kluge Center at the United States Library of Congress in 2019. He is a Member of the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

in Princeton, New Jersey, where he led a faculty seminar on bioethics in 2003–2004, and an honorary faculty member of the University of Otago Bioethics Centre in New Zealand. He is a fellow of the

Hastings Center The Hastings Center for Bioethics is an independent, nonpartisan bioethics research institute in Garrison, New York. Its mission is to address ethical issues in health care, science, and technology. Through its projects and publications and its pu ...

, an independent bioethics research institution. Elliott's scholarly interests include the influence of market forces on medicine, the ethics of enhancement technologies, research ethics, the philosophy of psychiatry, and the work of

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

and

Walker Percy Walker Percy, Oblate of Saint Benedict, OblSB (May 28, 1916 – May 10, 1990) was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first, ''Th ...

. His articles have appeared in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', '' Mother Jones'', ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

'', ''

The London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published bimonthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of Boo ...

'', '' The Believer'', ''

The American Prospect ''The American Prospect'' is a daily online and bimonthly print American political and public policy magazine dedicated to American modern liberalism and Progressivism in the United States, progressivism. Based in Washington, D.C., ''The America ...

'' and '' ''Dissent''''. He is known for often taking darkly comic approaches to serious or offbeat topics. His ''New Yorker'' article, "Guinea Pigging", covered professional research subjects, while an article in the December 2000 ''Atlantic Monthly'' discussed the phenomenon of

apotemnophilia Body integrity dysphoria (BID), also referred to as body integrity identity disorder (BIID), amputee identity disorder or xenomelia, and formerly called apotemnophilia, is a rare mental disorder characterized by a desire to have a sensory or ...

, the desire for amputation of a healthy limb. He has also written several satirical pieces, including an article for the ''American Prospect'' on Extreme Psychiatry as a reality TV show, and a piece for the ''

Ruminator Review The ''Ruminator Review'', originally the ''Hungry Mind Review'', was a quarterly book review magazine founded by David Unowsky and published in St. Paul, Minnesota from 1986 to 2005. It included reviews of all genres, as well as literary interv ...

'' on "how to become an academic failure." Elliott has authored or edited seven books, including ''A Philosophical Disease: Bioethics, Culture and Identity'' (

Routledge Routledge ( ) is a British multinational corporation, multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, academic journals, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanit ...

, 1999), ''Better than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream'' (

W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly '' The Norton ...

, 2003), and ''White Coat, Black Hat: Adventures on the Dark Side of Medicine'' (

Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as Jame ...

, 2010). In 2011, Elliott won the Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media. His latest book is ''The Occasional Human Sacrifice: Medical Experimentation and the Price of Saying No'' (

, 2024), about whistleblowers who've spoke out against abusive medical research.

Dan Markingson

Elliott became well known for his advocacy around the death of Dan Markingson, a mentally ill man under a civil commitment order who committed suicide after being pressured into an industry-funded antipsychotic study at the University of Minnesota. Elliott wrote critically about the way the university handled the case in a ''Mother Jones'' article in 2010. Although the University of Minnesota denied any wrongdoing for years, it was forced to suspend recruitment into psychiatric drug studies after a scathing investigation by the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor.Susan Perry
“U of M suspends enrollment in psychiatric drug trials after in the wake of scathing report on Markingson case”
MinnPost, March 20, 2015.

References

External links

"Guinea-Pigging" the ''New Yorker'', Jan 7, 2008."A New Way to be Mad," ''The Atlantic Monthly'', December 2000."Logical Extreme: The Next Step in Reality Television" (with B. Elliott), The American Prospect (web), 2003.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Carl East Carolina University people 20th-century American philosophers 21st-century American philosophers American philosophy academics American bioethicists Physicians from North Carolina American medical writers American male non-fiction writers University of Minnesota faculty Alumni of the University of Glasgow Living people 1961 births Fellows of the Hastings Center