The hyperreality of clinical ethics: A unitary theory and hermeneutics
Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 15 (2) (1994)
| Abstract | Medical ethics nowadays is dominated by a conception of ethics as the application of moral theories and principles. This conception is criticized for its depreciation of the internal morality of medical practice and its narrow view of external morality. This view reflects both a lack of interest in the empirical realities of medicine and a neglect of the socio-cultural value-contexts of medical ethical issues, including the creative development of a broader philosophical framework for a practicable medical ethics. Several alternative approaches and conceptions have been proposed. The unified clinical ethics theory, developed by Graber and Thomasma, is an interesting attempt to synthesize these alternative approaches. It correctly identifies as the crucial problem the present disconnectedness of medical ethics from theoretical philosophy as well as the practice of medicine. In this paper, however, it is argued that the unitary theory should take more serious attention to the hermeneutic character of medicine as well as ethics. This implies that the unitary theory must in fact transform itself into aninterpretive clinical ethics theory. The theoretical characteristics and practical consequences of an interpretive theory of medical ethics are discussed in the present paper. | |||||||||
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Glenn Mcgee (1996). Phronesis in Clinical Ethics. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 17 (4).
George J. Agich (2005). What Kind of Doing is Clinical Ethics? Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 26 (1):7-24.
Alan G. Johnson (2006). Making Sense of Medical Ethics: A Hands-on Guide. Distributed in the U.S.A. By Oxford University Press.
Fredrik Svenaeus (2003). Hermeneutics of Medicine in the Wake of Gadamer: The Issue of Phronesis. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 24 (5):407-431.
Peter Hucklenbroich (1998). Steps Towards a Theory of Medical Practice. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 19 (3).
Jos V. M. Welie (1998). Clinical Ethics: Theory or Practice? Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 19 (3).
Stephen L. Daniel (1994). Hermeneutical Clinical Ethics: A Commentary. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 15 (2).
Henk A. M. J. Ten Have & Annique Lelie (1998). Medical Ethics Research Between Theory and Practice. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 19 (3).
David C. Thomasma (1994). Clinical Ethics as Medical Hermeneutics. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 15 (2).
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