Overview
Samuel J. Kerstein develops a new, broadly Kantian account of the ethical issues that arise when a person treats another merely as a means, that is, 'just uses' the other and thereby acts wrongly. He takes his inspiration from Immanuel Kant's 'Formula of Humanity', which commands that we treat persons never merely as means but always as ends in themselves, and then develops the ideas suggested by the Formula into clear moral principles. Kerstein questions the plausibility of an orthodox Kantian account of the dignity of persons, before going on to develop a new, detailed account of his own. Kerstein's second main goal is to show how the Kantian principles he develops shed light on pressing issues in bioethics. He investigates how, morally speaking, scarce resources such as flu vaccine ought to be distributed--and he argues that allocating such resources in order to maximize benefits can be inconsistent with respecting persons' dignity. The book explores the morality of regulated markets in organs, and contends that in many contexts, buying organs from live 'donors' fails to honour their dignity. Finally, it probes the ethics of conducting research on 'anonymized' biological samples, and of conducting placebo-controlled pharmaceutical trials in developing countries. How to Treat Persons champions the view that even if an agent gets another's voluntary, informed consent to use parts of his body for transplantation or medical research, she might nevertheless be treating him merely as a means or failing to respect his dignity.
Full Product Details
Author: Samuel J. Kerstein (University of Maryland, College Park)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 16.20cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 24.00cm
Weight: 0.512kg
ISBN: 9780199692033
ISBN 10: 0199692033
Pages: 242
Publication Date: 21 February 2013
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Tertiary & Higher Education
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
For those sympathetic to his intuitionist approach, he offers provocative case studies that should be addressed in any future account of respect for persons. Patrick Frierson, Mind exemplifies many virtues of analytic philosophy done well Jon Garthoff, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
exemplifies many virtues of analytic philosophy done well * Jon Garthoff, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews * For those sympathetic to his intuitionist approach, he offers provocative case studies that should be addressed in any future account of respect for persons. * Patrick Frierson, Mind *
exemplifies many virtues of analytic philosophy done well Jon Garthoff, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Author Information
Samuel Kerstein is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park. The author of Kant's Search for the Supreme Principle of Morality, he has written many articles on Kant's ethics, Kantian moral principles, and topics in bioethics including the morality of markets in human organs and the fair distribution of scarce, life-saving resources. Kerstein has been a Fellow at the National Humanities Center and at the Harvard University Program in Ethics and Health.
