Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Bioethics In Social Context, Barry Hoffmaster

C. Barry Hoffmaster

"The problems of bioethics are embedded in people's lives and social worlds. They are shaped by individual biographies and relationships, by the ethos and institutions of health care, by economic and political pressures, by media depictions, and by the assumptions, beliefs, and values that permeate cultures and times. Yet these forces are largely ignored by a professional bioethics that concentrates on the theoretical justification of decisions.

The original essays in this volume use qualitative research methods to expose the multiple contexts within which the problems of bioethics arise, are defined and debated, and ultimately resolved. In a provocative concluding essay, …

The Forms And Limits Of Medical Ethics, Barry Hoffmaster

C. Barry Hoffmaster

As medical ethics has evolved over the past several decades, it has come to be regarded as a domain of applied ethics, that is, the application of a rationally based, philosophical theory to moral problems in health care. But an array of difficulties arise in the attempt to apply general moral theories or norms to concrete problems, difficulties that expose the incompleteness and indeterminacy of philosophical moral theory. The doubtful ability of applied ethics to be practically helpful has led to the development of two main competitors. One is the attempt to reprise and rehabilitate the tradition of moral casuistry, …

Can Ethnography Save The Life Of Medical Ethics?, Barry Hoffmaster

C. Barry Hoffmaster

Since its inception contemporary medical ethics has been regarded by many of its practitioners as ‘applied ethics’, that is, the application of philosophical theories to the moral problems that arise in health care. This ‘applied ethics’ model of medical ethics is, however, beset with internal and external difficulties. The internal difficulties point out that the model is intrinsically flawed. The external difficulties arise because the model does not fit work in the field. Indeed, the strengths of that work are its highly nuanced, particularized analyses of cases and issues and its appreciation of the circumstances and contexts that generate and …

Morality And The Social Sciences, Barry Hoffmaster

C. Barry Hoffmaster

No abstract provided.