Overview

Medical ethics is a vitally important subject, and currently a highly controversial one. Recent cases have highlighted both the intellectual and moral challenges posed by the dilemmas of modern medicine, and their significance for us all. John Harris gives a fully up-to-date survey of the issues in this crucial field of applied ethics, including in vitro fertilization and experimeentationn on human embryos. Professor Harris explores the principal ethical dilemmas that arise in medical practice and research, and by challenging our basic assumptions and familiar ideas, shows how the most difficult problems may be approached and resolved. He presents a clear discussion of the major issues, and argues for a radical re-appraisal of our way of thinking about these problems and of the traditional solutions to them. The book is intended both to introduce the general reader to the problems of medical ethics, and as a text for the study and discussion of medical ethics in medical schools and in the training of health professionals. It will also be of value as a text for applied and practical ethics courses in philosophy departments and departments of social policy and administrat politics, sociology and liberal studies.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Harris
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 13.80cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.363kg
ISBN:  

9780415040327

ISBN 10:   0415040329
Pages:   300
Publication Date:   30 May 1985
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Preface. Acknowledgments. Introduction. 1. Beings, human beings and persons I. When does life begin? II. When does life begin to matter morally? III. How do we recognise persons? IV. Persons and full human beings V. Once a person always a person? VI. Conclusion 2. Above all do no harm 3. Must doctors help their patients? 4. Killing: A caring thing to do? I. Death removes a threat II. Death is a benefit III. Wanting to live and wanting to die IV. Death promotes other values V. Safeguards VI. The justification of euthanasia 5. The value of life I. The moral significance of age II. Worthwhile lives III. The moral advantage of dependants and friends IV. The moral advantage of usefulness V. Moral worth VI. What should we do? 6. The beginnings of life I. What's happening now II. Experiments on embryos III. The slippery slope 7. Whose body is it anyway? I. Who's mother whose baby? II. Morally unsound parents 8. A woman's right to choose I. To be or not to be - a mother II. Doing it my way III. Final choice: the all-female world 9. Sexual morality and the natural 10. Respect for persons I I. Respect for persons II. What is autonomy? III. Is paternalist interference justified? IV. Consent 11. Respect for persons II I. Children, lunatics, barbarians and animals II. Respect for the dead III. Self-inflicted illness IV. Confidentiality V. Ultimate principles and moral values 12. Death is abolished I. What is dealth? II. Live persons and dead bodies III. Machine people IV. Death is abolished V. Are the frozen really persons? Notes. Suggested further reading. Index.

Reviews

Author Information

John Harris is Professor of Applied Philosophy at the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, University of Manchester.

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions