Handbook of Bioethics:

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

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2. Introduction: Taking Stock of Bioethics From a Philosophical Perspective

   1. Introduction: Taking Stock of Bioethics From a Philosophical Perspective

      • George Khushf

      Pages 1-28

3. The Emergence of Bioethics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 29-29

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   2. The History of Bioethics as a Discipline

      • Albert R. Jonsen

      Pages 31-51

4. Bioethical Theory

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 53-53

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   2. Principles and Principlism

      • Tom L. Beauchamp, David DeGrazia

      Pages 55-74

   3. Casuistry

      • Joseph Boyle

      Pages 75-88

   4. Virtue Theory in Philosophy of Medicine

      • David C. Thomasma

      Pages 89-120

   5. Common Morality

      • K. Danner Clouser, Bernard Gert

      Pages 121-141

   6. Feminist Approaches to Bioethics

      • Rosemarie Tong

      Pages 143-161

   7. Four Narrative Approaches to Bioethics

      • Hilde Lindemann Nelson

      Pages 163-181

   8. Philosophy of Medicine and Medical Ethics: A Phenomenological Perspective

      • Edmund D. Pellegrino

      Pages 183-202

5. Core Concepts in Clinical Ethics

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 203-203

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   2. The Logic of Health Concepts

      • Lennart Nordenfelt

      Pages 205-222

   3. Physicians and Patients in Relation: Clinical Interpretation and Dialogues of Trust

      • Richard Zaner

      Pages 223-250

   4. Informed Consent

      • Stephen Wear

      Pages 251-290

   5. Philosophical Challenges to the Use of Advance Directives

      • Cynthia B. Cohen

      Pages 291-314

   6. Ethics Committees and Case Consultation: Theory and Practice

      • Mark G. Kuczewski

      Pages 315-334

6. The Public Policy Context

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 335-335

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   2. The Ethics of Controlled Clinical Trials

      • Baruch Brody

      Pages 337-352

In general, the history of virtue theory is well-documented (Sherman, 1997; O’Neill, 1996). Its relationship to medicine is also recorded in our work and in that of others (Pellegrino and Thomasma, 1993b; 1996; Drane, 1994; Ellos, 1990). General publications stress the importance of training the young in virtuous practices. Still, the popularity of education in virtue is widely viewed as part of a conservative backlash to modern liberal society. Given the authorship of some of these works by professional conservatives like William Bennett (1993; 1995), this concern is authentic. One might correspondingly fear that greater adoption of virtue theory in medicine will be accompanied by a corresponding backward-looking social agenda. Worse yet, does reaffirmation of virtue theory lacquer over the many challenges of the postmodern world view as if these were not serious concerns? After all, recreating the past is the “retro” temptation of our times. Searching for greater certitude than we can now obtain preoccupies most thinkers today. One wishes for the old clarity and certitudes (Engelhardt, 1991). On the other hand, the same thinkers who yearn for the past, like Engelhardt sometimes seems to do, might stress the unyielding gulf between past and present that creates the postmodern reaction to all systems of Enlightenment thought (1996).

• Beauchamp
• Clinical Ethics
• Ethical Issues
• Health Care Ethics
• Medical Ethics
• Moral
• Reproductive Ethics
• bioethics
• ethics
• health
• history of bioethics

• Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities and Department of Philosophy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, USA

  George Khushf

Policies and ethics