This book explores the profound, yet often overlooked, role of color in healthcare and bioethics, arguing that color is far more than a visual or aesthetic element-it actively shapes human experience, perception, and ethical reasoning.
Traditionally regarded as secondary to objective medical observations or rational ethical debates, color has been marginalized in these fields, considered subjective and inconsequential. However, this book reveals that color is critical in diagnostic and therapeutic practices and that it subconsciously influences moral interpretations in bioethics. Through examples like the 'blue hour'-a time of day associated with melancholy and creativity-readers are invited to consider color not just as a physical phenomenon explained by wavelengths and visual physiology, but as a medium rich with emotional and metaphorical meaning. From 'feeling blue' to seeing the world in 'black and white', color conveys complex messages that inform our perceptions of health, morality, and identity.
By bridging the gap between science, emotion, and ethics, this book illuminates how colors impact our worldviews, urging readers to consider the subtle yet significant ways that color influences our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
Henk ten Have has been Director of the Center for Healthcare Ethics at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, USA (2010-2019). He studied medicine and philosophy in the Netherlands and worked as professor in the Faculty of Medicine of the Universities of Maastricht and Nijmegen. From 2003 until 2010 he has joined UNESCO in Paris as Director of the Division of Ethics of Science and Technology. Since 2019 he is Emeritus Professor, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, USA, and since 2021 Research professor at the Faculty of Bioethics in the Universidad Anahuac Mexico. He is editor of the International Journal of Ethics Education, and Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy. His recent book publications are Global Bioethics; An Introduction (2016), Vulnerability: Challenging bioethics (2016), Global education in bioethics (2018), Wounded planet. How declining biodiversity endangers health and how bioethics can help (2019), Dictionary of global bioethics (with Maria do Céu Patrão Neves, 2021), Bioethics, healthcare and the soul (with Renzo Pegoraro, 2022), Bizarre Bioethics - Ghosts, monsters and pilgrims (2022), The Covid-19 pandemic and global bioethics (2022). He has edited the Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics (2016) and Global education in bioethics (2018).
