Description
Book SynopsisIs bioethics only about medicine and health care? Law? Philosophy? Social issues? No, on all accounts. It embraces all these and more. In this book, fifteen notable scholars from the North West of England critically explore the main approaches to bioethics—and make a scratch on its polished surface.
Trade Review"Well written and very readable … can [chapters] can be read either as stand-alone papers or as part of the whole. Despite its title the book does more then ‘scratch the surface’ of bioethics. … while a background knowledge of the main arguments and better known writings in bioethics is definitely a help, the volume may also be useful for those making their first tentative steps in the vast array of academic literature in this field." - in: Bulletin of Medical Ethics, No. 204 (December 2004/January 2005) "The book contains several chapters that echo the practical ethical concerns that health professionals confront in their work. They do more than just ‘scratch the surface of bioethics’ and make the book as a whole a useful addition to the libraries of health professionals" - in: Nursing Ethics 11(3) (2004) "If the discipline of ethics can have its ‘metaethics’, then the discipline of bioethics can have its ‘metabioethics’. This book would be a notable contribution to such a discipline … an excellent collection of essays which are accessibly written, relatively short, and highly thought provoking. Clinicians, caring professionals, philosophers, and students who have some familiarity with the bioethical literature will gain greatly from reading it. If the maturity of a discipline is evidenced by its willingness to reflect on its own assumptions and methods, then this book is a mark of such maturity in bioethics." - in: Metapsychology (Dec. 2003)
Table of ContentsForeword by Michael Parker Preface Introduction Matti HÄYRY and Tuija TAKALA: What is Bioethics All About? A Start ONE Rebecca BENNETT and Alan CRIBB: The Relevance of Empirical Research to Bioethics: Reviewing the Debate TWO Mairi LEVITT: Better Together? Sociological and Philosophical Perspectives on Bioethics THREE Tuija TAKALA: The Role of Sense and Sensibility in Bioethics FOUR Eve GARRARD and Stephen WILKINSON: Does Bioethics Need Moral Theory? FIVE Søren HOLM: “Parity of Reasoning” Arguments in Bioethics – Some Methodological Considerations SIX Harry LESSER: Anne Maclean’s Criticism of Bioethics SEVEN Peter HERISSONE-KELLY: The Principlist Approach to Bioethics, and its Stormy Journey Overseas EIGHT Charles A. ERIN: Who Needs “the Four Principles?” NINE Matti HÄYRY: Do Bioscientists Need Professional Ethics? TEN John HARRIS: Pro-Life is Anti-Life: The Problematic Claims of Pro-Life Positions in Ethics ELEVEN Simo VEHMAS: The Grounds for Preventing Impairments. A Critique TWELVE Mark P. SHEEHAN: Deflating Autonomy THIRTEEN Paul BARROW: Autonomy: Overworked and Under-Valued About the Editors and Contributors Index
