Philosophy of medicine — From a medical perspective

In this commentary on the article by Arthur L. Caplan [1] the philosophy of medicine is viewed from a medical perspective. Philosophical studies have a long tradition in medicine, especially during periods of paradigmatic unrest, and they serve the same goal as other medical activities: the prevention and treatment of disease. The medical profession needs the help of professional philosophers in much the same way as it needs the cooperation of basic scientists. Philosophy of medicine may not deserve the status of a philosophical subspecialty or field, but it so closely linked to the main trends of contemporary medical thinking that it must be regarded as an emerging (or reemerging) medical subdiscipline.     

Ethics in Long-Term Care: Are the Principles Different?

It has become common in medical ethics to discuss difficult cases in terms of the principles of respect for autonomy, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and justice. These moral concepts or principles serve as maxims that are suggestive of appropriate clinical behavior. Because this language evolved primarily in the acute care setting, I consider whether it is in need of supplementation in order to be useful in the long-term care setting. Through analysis of two typical cases involving residents of long-term care facilities, I argue for the additional principles of candor and responsibility for narrative integrity.     

The Dream of Consensus: Finding Common Ground in a Bioethical Context

Consensus is the holy grail of bioethics, the lynch pin of the assumption that well informed, well intentioned people may reach generally acceptable positions on ethically contentious issues. It has been especially important in bioethics, where advancing technology has assured an increasing field of complex medical dilemmas. This paper results on the use of a multicriterion decision making system (MCDM) analyzing group process in an attempt to better define hospital policy. In a pilot program at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, a series of small scale focus groups was constituted to examine criteria defining organ transplant eligibility. Criteria were organized hierarchically using the Analytic Hierarchy Process, an MCDM approach, and the resulting data was analyzed using Expert Choice 9.0, software designed to facilitate AHP analysis. Qualitative and quantitative analysis map barriers to practical consensus in a way not previously possible.     

Physician-assisted suicide reconsidered: dying as a Christian in a post-Christian age.

The traditional Christian focus concerning dying is on repentance, not dignity. The goal of a traditional Christian death is not a pleasing, final chapter to life, but union with God: holiness. The pursuit of holiness requires putting on Christ and accepting His cross. In contrast, post-traditional Christian and secular concerns with self-determination, control, dignity, and self-esteem make physician-assisted suicide and voluntary active euthanasia plausible moral choices. Such is not the case within the context of the traditional Christian experience of God, which throughout its 2000 years has sternly condemned suicide and assisted suicide. The wrongness of such actions cannot adequately be appreciated outside the experience of that Christian life. Traditional Christian appreciations of death involve an epistemology and metaphysics of values in discordance with those of secular morality. This difference in the appreciation of the meaning of dying and death, as well as in the appreciation of the moral significance of suicide, discloses a new battle in the culture wars separating traditional Christian morality from that of the surrounding society.     

英国人类胚胎研究管理体制建立的背景及其现实功能分析--兼论日本生命科学技术的社会管理体制结构

随着生命科学技术的发展,出现了很多新的生命伦理学问题.英国的人类胚胎研究管理体制(HFEA)能够提供有益的借鉴.介绍了这一体制建立的背景并对其现实功能进行分析.得出结论:日本应该建立一个生命科学技术的社会管理体制.     

No One Has Ever Seen God: The Use of Religious Archives for Nonreligious Purposes

Abstract

The area of women and religion is a rapidly expanding field of study for which an up-to-date research guide would be a useful tool. This annotated research guide covers traditional resources, such as reference books, general monographs, periodicals, associations, and audiovisual material. It also contains entries which annotate important Internet resources, such as academically oriented Web sites and electronic discussion lists. Resources chosen for inclusion were produced since 1996 in North America and emphasize the study of women and religion with the Judeo-Christian traditions.     

There is no moral authority in medicine: response to Cowdin and Tuohey.

Central to the Cowdin-Tuohey paper is the concept of a moral authority proper to medical practitioners. Much as I agree with the authors in refusing to degrade doctors to the status of mere technicians, I argue that one does not succeed in retrieving the moral dimension of medical practice by investing doctors with moral authority. I show that none of the cases brought forth by Cowdin-Tuohey really amounts to a case of moral authority. Then I try to explain why no such cases can be found. Developing an insight that is common to all the major moral thinkers in the philosophia perennis, I show that doctors are professionally competent with respect only to a part of the human good; morally wise persons are competent with respect to that which makes man good as man. I try to show why it follows that a) professional expertise has no natural tendency to pass over into moral understanding, and that b) doctor and non-doctor alike start from the same point in developing their understanding of medical morality. It follows that the authors fail in their attempt to de-center the moral magisterium of the Church by setting up centers of moral authority outside of the Church.     

世俗人文主义概述(二)

是否存在能够支撑不信教者的道德价值和道德原则呢？抛弃了宗教信仰。人类生命有何含义？其意义何在？世俗人文主义以科学的、哲学的和伦理的视角,用能与人类的生命激情和科学发现相共鸣的方式来回答这些问题。世俗人文主义强调运用理性思维和批评性思考解决人类遇到的问题。对人类运用科学和技术手段为本身谋福充满信心,它质疑超自然、神秘的、超现实现象的存在。在人类民主进程和为全球人类谋福方面．它从不妥协。为了人类自由和最高实现人类自身价值,它提出了一个新的范例来指导人类文明进程。     

论当代生命伦理学与人权

生命伦理学面临诸多的伦理问题,其中最为凸显的是人权困境,生命伦理学与人权有着内在的本质联系和契合点,人权是生命伦理的核心和生长点,人权的基本理论和原则使生命伦理学的存在与发展成为可能,并且成为活生生的伦理现实。生命伦理学饱含丰富的人权意蕴,成为人权理论合理性的印证。要科学审视当代生命伦理学和人权关系,化解人权困境,推动生命伦理学的发展。     

The Professional Status of Bioethics Consultation

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics - Is bioethics consultation a profession? Withfew exceptions, the arguments andcounterarguments about whether healthcareethics consultation is a profession...