Abstract
Contemporary health care relies on electronic devices. These technologies are not ethically neutral but change the practice of care. In light of Sennett’s work and that of other thinkers (Dewey, Dreyfus, Borgmann) one worry is that “e-care”—care by means of new information and communication technologies—does not promote skilful and careful engagement with patients and hence is neither conducive to the quality of care nor to the virtues of the care worker. Attending to the kinds of knowledge involved in care work and their moral significance, this paper explores what “craftsmanship” means in the context of medicine and health care and discusses whether today the care giver’s craftsmanship is eroded. It is argued that this is a real danger, especially under modern conditions and in the case of telecare, but that whether it happens, and to what extent it happens, depends on whether in a specific practice and given a specific technology e-carers can develop the know-how and skill to engage more intensely with those under their care and to cooperate with their co-workers.
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Notes
Note that this term is problematic since it is not gender-neutral. However, I decided to use it nevertheless in order to stay in line with Sennett’s terminology and because it is far more common. Readers who think this is not a good reason are welcome to replace the term by gender-neutral alternatives. I guess “craftspersonship” would be the best candidate here.
This distinction itself is modern.
See also further references to MacIntyre later in this paper.
See also the concept of evidence based medicine, which effectively does away with the notion of care understood as craftsmanship. I hope to further discuss this elsewhere.
I hope to conduct a larger, trans-disciplinary research project on care and craftsmanship.
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Coeckelbergh, M. E-care as craftsmanship: virtuous work, skilled engagement, and information technology in health care. Med Health Care and Philos 16, 807–816 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-013-9463-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-013-9463-7