This paper develops a novel argument to show that prospective research subjects can validly consent to participate in a study without understanding (most of) the content of the required disclosure. Its point of departure is the right subjects standardly have to waive (most of) the investigator’s duty to disclose. Things get worse for autonomy based defences of informed consent because this right to waive is very well grounded in an individual’s autonomy.

Professor Gopal Sreenivasan (Crown University Distinguished Professor in Ethics, Duke University)
Professor Sreenivasan’s research interests cover a wide range of topics across the whole spectrum of moral and political philosophy. Hot off the press, his new book Emotion and Virtue (Princeton, 2020) makes original contributions in both moral psychology and the theory of virtue.