Meta Medical Ethics: The Philosophical Foundations of Bioethics: 171 (Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science) - Tapa blanda

This anthology is the culmination of some 20 years of interest in the field of bioethics. I began my studies in the philosophy of science while at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970. My interest then, as now, continues to be the complex interrelationship between science and the humanities. While grounded in philosophy and molecular biology, I yearned for a more applied realm for exploration and integration of the value laden nature of science in the public policy arena. After receiving my medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, I continued my work in medical ethics focusing primarily on the ethics of human experimentation, newborn and reproductive technologies, and human genetics. As I completed my clinical training at the University of California at Los Angeles and at Harvard, I had the opportunity to use philosophical ethics in an attempt to understand, frame and resolve moral dilemmas in clinical practice. As a professor of medical ethics at Boston University for the past decade, I have taught bioethics at the undergraduate, graduate and post doctoral levels. Over these years I have become increasingly frustrated by the state of contemporary bioethics. Medicine continues to serve as an interesting paradigm for philosophers to explore novel theories about life, death, mind, suffering and meaning. Philosophy, however, has not served medicine quite so well as a source of knowledge and discipline to resolve the contemporary moral dilemmas found in health care.

What is bioethics? What are its goals and theoretical assumptions? Is it a unique discipline? Must medical ethics be grounded in clinical experience? How can ethical inquiry inform medicine's theory and practice? Must one have a definition of medicine before one can have a medical ethic? Does medicine have a unique or demarcating body of knowledge, methodology, or philosophy? These troubling questions are addressed by a distinguished roster of philosophers, theologians, lawyers, social scientists, physicians and scientists. The unifying theme of this text is a philosophical exploration of the history, nature, scope and foundations of bioethics. There is a critical evaluation of principled, communitarian, legal, narrative and feminist approaches. The book's interdisciplinary focus allows for a lively dialogue which includes papers and accompanying commentaries.
Meta Medical Ethics will be of interest to philosophers of science and medical ethicists, physicians, lawyers, policy makers.