Hippocrates’ Oath: Commitment and Community

Philosophia - In Hippocrates’ Oath and Asclepius’ Snake: The Birth of the Medical Profession, Thomas Cavanaugh focuses on performative aspects of the taking of the oath which bear upon...     

The Importance of Begging Earnestly

The author focuses on the potential for many healthcare institutionscurrently called ‘Catholic’ to lose their genuineRoman Catholic identity, and he offers suggestions for the futureof the Catholic identity of Catholic healthcare institutions.The author then considers one particular task of the Catholichospital, that of showing a preferential option for the poor.Some of the threats to this task are highlighted. The authorconcludes with some suggestions for the renewal of Catholicidentity in Catholic healthcare institutions.     

Meta Ain't Always Betta': Conceptualizing the Generic Chaplaincy Issue

Generic chaplaincy is the result of a devaluing of religiousworship and belief to the merely instrumental and experiential.It is an expectable consequence of non-belief in the uniqueobject that would render religious worship intrinsically meaningfuland valuable. Generic chaplaincy has no place because all desireGod, yet not all have found Him in the fullness with which Hehas revealed Himself to us, or even in the fullness with whichwe may be aware of Him through natural reason. In consequence,not all are equally aware of God. A chaplaincy that challengespatients respectfully, and encourages spiritual growth and awareness,including the overcoming of sin and error, is appropriate.     

Religious Reasons and Public Healthcare Deliberations

This paper critically explores the path of some of the controversiesover public reason and religion through four distinct steps.The first part of this article considers the engagement of JohnFinnis and Robert P. George with John Rawls over the natureof public reason. The second part moves to the question of religionby looking at the engagement of Nicholas Wolterstorff with Rawls,Robert Audi, and others. Here the question turns specificallyto religious reasons, and their permissible use by citizensin public debate and discourse. The third part engages JürgenHabermas's argument that while citizens must be free to makereligious arguments, still, there is an obligation of translation,and a motivational constraint on lawmakers. The final sectionargues that even though Habermas's proposal fails, neverthelesshe recognizes a key difficulty for religious citizens in contemporaryliberal polities. Restoration of a full role for religiouslygrounded justificatory reasons in public debate is one partof an adequate solution to this problem, but a second plankmust be added to the solution: recognition that religious reasonscan enter into public deliberation not just as first-order justificationsof particular policies, but as second-order reasons, to be consideredby any polity that respects its religious citizens and, morebroadly, the good of religion.     

Embryos, individuals, and persons: an argument against embryo creation and research

One strategy for arguing that it should be legally permissible to create human embryos, or to use of spare human embryos, for scientific research purposes involves the claim that such embryos cannot be persons because they are not human individuals while twinning may yet take place. Being a human individual is considered to be by most people a necessary condition for being a human person. I argue first that such an argument against the personhood of embryos must be rationally conclusive if their destruction in public places such as laboratories is to be countenanced. I base this argument on a popular understanding of the role that the notion of privacy plays in abortion law. I then argue that such arguments against personhood are not rationally conclusive. The claim that the early embryos is not a human individual is not nearly as obvious as some assert.