Charles A. Foster

He is known for his books and articles on Natural History, travel (particularly in Africa and the Middle East), theology, law and medical ethics.

He practises at the Bar in London, primarily in medical law, and has been involved in some of the most significant cases of recent years.

In the fields of law and philosophy he is probably best known for his criticisms of the hegemony of autonomy in medical ethics (in 'Choosing Life, Choosing Death' (2009)), and for his contention that the 'Four Principles' approach of Tom Beauchamp and James Childress is redundant, and should be replaced by an analysis based on a broadly Aristotelean account of human dignity ('Human Dignity in Bioethics and Law' (2011)).

[2] As part of his philosophical investigations relating to authenticity and identity, he has tried living as a badger, an otter, an urban fox, a red deer and a swift,[3][4] and he has written about this in his book Being a Beast in 2016.

For living in the wild as, at different times, a badger, an otter, a deer, a fox, and a bird, he won an Ig Nobel prize in Biology.