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New Knowledge in the Biomedical Sciences

Some Moral Implications of Its Acquisition, Possession, and Use

  • Book
  • © 1982

Overview

Editors:
  1. William B. Bondeson

    1. University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, USA

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  2. H. Tristram Engelhardt

    1. Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., USA

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  3. Stuart F. Spicker

    1. University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, USA

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  4. Joseph M. White

    1. St. Paul Hospital, Dallas, USA

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Part of the book series: Philosophy and Medicine (PHME, volume 10)

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Table of contents (18 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xviii
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  2. The Physician as Moral Arbiter

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
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    2. The Physician as a Moral Force in American History

      • John Duffy
      Pages 3-21

    3. The Physician as Moral Arbiter

      • Samuel Gorovitz
      Pages 23-31

  3. The Costs of New Knowledge

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 33-33
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    2. Moral Issues Relating to the Economics of New Knowledge in the Biomedical Sciences

      • Nicholas Rescher
      Pages 35-45

    3. Only the Best is Good Enough?

      • Richard M. Zaner
      Pages 47-52

  4. Costs, Benefits, and the Responsibilities of Medical Science

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 53-53
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    2. Morality and the Social Control of Biomedical Technology

      • Tom L. Beauchamp
      Pages 55-76

    3. Rights and Responsibilities in Medical Science

      • Bernard Towers
      Pages 77-85

    4. Health, Justice, and Responsibility

      • Mary Crenshaw Rawlinson
      Pages 87-102

  5. Biomedical Knowledge: Libertarian vs. Socialist Models

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 103-103
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    2. The Need to Know: Utilitarian and Esthetic Values of Biomedical Science

      • Gerald Weissmann
      Pages 105-112

    3. Medical Knowledge as a Social Product: Rights, Risks, and Responsibilities

      • Marx W. Wartofsky
      Pages 113-130

    4. Biomedical Knowledge: Progress and Priorities

      • Kenneth F. Schaffner
      Pages 131-151

  6. Biomedical Ethics and Advances in Biomedical Science

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-153
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    2. Applying Morality to Advances in Biomedicine: Can and should this be Done?

      • Arthur Caplan
      Pages 155-168

    3. Biomedicine, Health Care Policy, and the Adequacy of Ethical Theory

      • Laurence B. McCullough
      Pages 169-175

  7. Conclusions and Reflections: Present and Future Problems

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 177-177
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    2. Why New Technology is More Problematic than Old Technology

      • H. Tristram Engelhardt Jr.
      Pages 179-183
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Keywords

About this book

The spectacular development of medical knowledge over the last two centuries has brought intrusive advances in the capabilities of medical technology. These advances have been remarkable over the last century, but especially over the last few decades, culminating in such high technology interventions as heart transplants and renal dialysis. These increases in medical powers have attracted societal interest in acquiring more such knowledge. They have also spawned concerns regarding the use of human subjects in research and regarding the byproducts of basic research as in the recent recombinant DNA debate. As a consequence of the development of new biomedical knowledge, physicians and biomedical scientists have been placed in positions of new power and responsibility. The emergence of this group of powerful and knowledgeable experts has occasioned debates regarding the accountability of physicians and biomedical scientists. But beyond that, the very investment of resources in the acquisition of new knowledge has been questioned. Societies must decide whether finite resources would not be better invested at this juncture, or in general, in the alleviation of the problems of hunger or in raising general health standards through interventions which are less dependent on the intensive use of high technology. To put issues in this fashion touches on philosophical notions concerning the claims of distributive justice and the ownership of biomedical knowledge.

Editors and Affiliations

  • University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, USA

    William B. Bondeson

  • Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., USA

    H. Tristram Engelhardt

  • University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, USA

    Stuart F. Spicker

  • St. Paul Hospital, Dallas, USA

    Joseph M. White

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: New Knowledge in the Biomedical Sciences

  • Book Subtitle: Some Moral Implications of Its Acquisition, Possession, and Use

  • Editors: William B. Bondeson, H. Tristram Engelhardt, Stuart F. Spicker, Joseph M. White

  • Series Title: Philosophy and Medicine

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7723-5

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland 1982

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-90-277-1319-3Published: 31 January 1982

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-009-7725-9Published: 19 October 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-7723-5Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0376-7418

  • Series E-ISSN: 2215-0080

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVIII, 225

  • Topics: Ethics

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