Overview

Drawing on the work of writers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Walker Percy, Paul Auster and Graham Greene, this text brings to the bioethical discussion larger philosophical questions about the sense and significance of human life. Carl Elliott explores the relationship of illness to identity, and of mental illness to spiritual illness. He also examines the treatment of children born with ambiguous genitalia, the claims of deaf culture, and the morality of self-sacrifice. This book focuses on a different sensibility in bioethics - how we use concepts, and how they relate to our own particular social institutions.

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9780415919395

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Reviews

This book is one of the finest--and freshest--works of bioethics criticism I have had the pleasure to read. It will challenge philosphers of medicine and reflective clinicians alike. <br>- JAMA <br> It is a welcome and original contribution to bioethics.. <br>- Medical Humanities Review <br> The author uses a Wittgensteinian anti-theory to discuss issues in biomedical ethics. Topics include illness and identity, psychopharmacology, the role of clinical ethicists, and narrative in medicine The Hastings Center Report. <br> I had come to the conclusion that I could not stand to read another book in bioethics. They all go over the same ground in the same way. So thank God for Carl Elliott, who has written a book about the philosophy and ethics of medicine that is wise, illuminating, and funny. Elliott has learned Wittgenstein's lessons well and uses them to help us see the moral challenges modern medicine confronts. Even more, he helps us see how we must live if we are to survive not only the care medicine holds out, but our own longings as well. <br>-Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Divinity School, Duke University <br> An absorbing look at the effort to help doctors answer all those questions modern technology poses... Draw[s] on the best kinds of storytelling to illuminate bioethical decision making. He uses [Walker} Percy and other writers such as Kurt Vonnegut to make the point that the big, old questions about the good life and how to live it lie behind the immediate issues of bioethics... A refreshing alternative to routine bioethics discussions. <br>-New Scientist <br>

Author Information

Carl Elliott is Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics. He is co-editor with John Lantos of The Last Physician and editor of Slow Cures andBad Philosophers, both forthcoming.

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