Cutting through the surface : philosophical approaches to bioethics /
:
This book examines the role of philosophy and philosophers in bioethics. Academics often see bioethical studies as too practical while decision makers tend to see them as too theoretical. The purpose of this collection of new essays by an international group of distinguished scholars is to explore the troubled relationship between theory and practice in the ethical assessment of medicine, health care, and new medical and genetic technologies. The book is divided into six parts. In the first part, philosophers consider the definition of bioethics, the nature of applied ethics more generally, and the possibility of combining utilitarian and liberal strands of thinking in moral and political studies. In the second part, authors discuss the place and justification of principles in bioethics and the significance of medical and nursing experience in moral decision making. The third part addresses the complementary (or contradictory, as the case may be) principles of dignity, autonomy, precaution, and solidarity, and their use in theoretical and practical settings. In the fourth part, public health measures and experimental research are defended against traditional moral concerns. Part five scrutinizes parental responsibilities in bearing and rearing children, especially the reasons for and against human reproduction in individual cases. In part six, enhancements to human nature by various means are analyzed. Following in the footsteps of four previous collections in the Values in Bioethics special series by the same editorial team- Scratching the Surface of Bioethics , Bioethics and Social Reality , Ethics in Biomedical Research , and Arguments and Analysis in Bioethics -this book, compiled in honor of Professor Matti Häyry's 50th birthday, drills into the core of the discipline to show the philosophical depths that lie under the polished surface of policy-driven everyday bioethics.
:
1 online resource (xii, 258 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789042027404 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Arguments and analysis in bioethics /
:
Is there any justification for the common practice of allocating expensive medical resources to rescue a few from rare diseases, when those resources could be used to treat devastating diseases that affect the many? Does the use of Prozac and other anti-depressants make us inauthentic beings? Is it immoral and irrational to have children? What is the force of examples and counterexamples in bioethics? What are the relevance of moral intuition and the role of empirical evidence in bioethical argument? What notion of "function" underlies accounts of the distinction between normality and disease and between therapy and enhancement? Is there an inherent conflict between research aimed at therapy and research aimed at gaining knowledge, such that the very notion of "therapeutic research" is an oxymoron? The twenty-one chapters in this volume strive, through the use of high quality argument and analysis, to get a good deal clearer concerning a range of issues in bioethics, and a range of issues about bioethics. The essays are provocative, indeed, some quite radical and disturbing, as they call into question many common methodological and substantive assumptions in bioethics.
:
1 online resource (xiv, 304 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789042028036 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.