The Birth of Bioethics
Albert R. Jonsen(Author)
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 11. June 1998
Book
Hardback
448 pages
978-0-19-510325-0 (ISBN)
Description
The field of "bioethics" represents a dramatic revision of the centuries-old ethics that governed the behaviour of physicians and their relationships with patients. Those ethics were challenged in the years after World War II by remarkable advances in biomedical science and medicine that raised questions about the definition of death, the use of life-support systems, organ transplantation and reproductive manipulation. In response, philosophers and theologians, lawyers and social scientists joined with physicians and scientists to rethink and revise the old standards. Governments established commissions to recommend policies. Courts heard arguments and legislatures passed laws. This book is a broad history of the growing field of bioethics. Covering the period 1947-1987, it examines the origin and evolution of the debates over human experimentation, genetic engineering, organ transplantation, termination of life-sustaining treatment and new reproductive technologies. It assesses the contributions of philosophy, theology, law and the social sciences to the expanding discourse of bioethics.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
bibliography
ISBN-13
978-0-19-510325-0 (9780195103250)
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Schweitzer Classification
Content
PART I: BIOETHICAL BEGINNINGS: THE PEOPLE AND THE PLACES; 1. "Great Issues of Conscience": Ethics Before Bioethics; 2. The Theologians: Rediscovering the Tradition; 3. The Philosophers: Clarifying the Concepts; 4. Commissioning Bioethics: The Government in Bioethics, 1974-1983; PART II: THE PROBLEMS; 5. Experiments Perilous: The Ethics of Research with Human Subjects; 6. Splicing Life: Genetics and Ethics; 7. The Miracle of Modern Medicine: The Ethics of Organ Transplantation and Artificial Organs; 8. Who Should Live? Who Should Die? The Ethics of Death and Dying; 9. O Brave New World! The Ethics of Human Reproduction; PART III: DISCIPLINE, DISCOURSE AND ETHOS; 10. Bioethics as Discipline; 11. Bioethics as Discourse; 12. Bioethics and the American Ethos