The Foundations of Bioethics: An Introduction and Critique - Hardcover

Engelhardt Jr., H. Tristram

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195036085 ISBN 13: 9780195036084

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1986

Synopsis

This is the first single-author text on the philosophical issues in bioethics that is both systematic and comprehensive. Engelhardt provides both a critique of the theoretical foundations of bioethics and an analysis of the problematic ways in which facts, theories and values become intertwined in concepts of health and disease. He analyzes patients' rights, including the right to free and informed consent, to refuse treatment, and to the benefits of health care. Covering topics that range from abortion and in vitro fertilization to sexual deviance and organ transplantation. Englehardt offers a critical and at times controversial analysis, defending such practices as fetal experimentation and limited infanticide.

About this title

Reviews

This book on bioethics offers a useful, relatively detailed discussion of the principles of autonomy, beneficence, justice; of the concepts of personhood, disease, confidentiality; and of issues such as abortion, infanticide, and the allocation of health care. Insofar as the book discusses ethical theory, it is simplistic and uninteresting; the author encumbers himself and us by viewing various things as matters of having a right rather than of doing what is right . Extensive footnotes provide an effective substitute for a bibliography. All things considered, a good overview for non-philosophers. Robert Hoffman, Philosophy Dept., York Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0195036085
• ISBN 13: 9780195036084
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 414