A Theory Of Bioethics

Description

This volume offers a carefully argued, compelling theory of bioethics while eliciting practical implications for a wide array of issues including medical assistance-in-dying, the right to health care, abortion, animal research, and the definition of death. The authors' dual-value theory features mid-level principles, a distinctive model of moral status, a subjective account of well-being, and a cosmopolitan view of global justice. In addition to ethical theory, the book investigates the nature of harm and autonomous action, personal identity theory, and the 'non-identity problem' associated with many procreative decisions. Readers new to particular topics will benefit from helpful introductions, specialists will appreciate in-depth theoretical explorations and a novel take on various practical issues, and all readers will benefit from the book's original synoptic vision of bioethics. Cover Half-title Title page Copyright information Dedication Contents List of Figures Acknowledgments Chapter 1 | Introduction 1.1 | Why This Book? 1.2 | Plan for the Book Chapter 2 | Methodology 2.1 | Introduction 2.2 | The Method of Reflective Equilibrium Terminology and Scope From Initial Beliefs to Considered Judgments Other Theoretical Virtues Reflective Equilibrium and Practical Ethics 2.3 | Alternative Methodologies 2.4 | Reflective Equilibrium: Clarifications and Criticisms Why Start from Here? Empirical Concerns about the Reliability of Moral Intuitions 2.5 | Metaethics Chapter 3 | Outline of the Dual Value Theory 3.1 | Introduction 3.2 | Fundamental Values, a Formal Principle, and Scope Fundamental Values: Well-Being and Respect for Rights-Holders A Formal Principle: Equal Consideration Scope: Sentient Beings 3.3 | Mid-level Principles Nonmaleficence Beneficence Distributive Justice Autonomy Rights Contrast with Principles of Biomedical Ethics 3.4 | Other Ethical Theories and Concepts Consequentialism Deontology Virtue Ethics Chapter 4 | Nonmaleficence and Negative Constraints 4.1 | Introduction 4.2 | What Is Harm? Three Accounts Challenges to the Counterfactual Account Preemption Cases Omission Cases Fair Competition Cases 4.3 | Types of Harm and Preliminary Specifications of Nonmaleficence 4.4 | The Right Not to Be Tortured 4.5 | Permissible Risks in Pediatric Research 4.6 | Medical Assistance-in-Dying Conceptual and Legal Background Conventional Thinking about This Issue and Its Limitations Defense of a More Progressive View Policy Suggestions Chapter 5 | Autonomy 5.1 | Introduction 5.2 | The Nature and Value of Autonomy 5.3 | Respect (and Disrespect) for Autonomy Respect for Autonomy and Rights Coercion, Offers, Undue Inducements, and Exploitation Deception, Manipulation, and Persuasion 5.4 | Justifying Interference Paternalism Interference for the Sake of Others 5.5 | Consent Capacity Disclosure Understanding Voluntariness Authorization Exceptions to the Consent Requirement 5.6 | Decision-Making for Others 5.7 | The Right to Refuse Treatment 5.8 | Direct-to-Consumer Marketing of Pharmaceuticals Chapter 6 | Distributive Justice and Beneficence 6.1 | Introduction 6.2 | Just Institutions A Defense of Liberal Egalitarianism Rejecting Libertarianism Global Justice: A Defense of Cosmopolitanism 6.3 | Individuals and the Demands of Beneficence General Considerations The Perfect Duty of Beneficence Individual Duties of Beneficence in a Just World Individual Duties of Beneficence in an Unjust World 6.4 | Domestic Justice: The Right to Access Health Care 6.5 | Global Injustice: Intellectual Property Laws and Pharmaceuticals Chapter 7 | Moral Status 7.1 | Introduction 7.2 | The Concept of Moral Status 7.3 | A Sketch of Our Account 7.4 | Sentience as Necessary and Sufficient for Moral Status The Relevance of Personhood The Irrelevance of Species Membership Sentience and Interests Which Beings Are Sentient? Potential 7.5 | Clarifying the Idea of Differences in Moral Status 7.6 | Against Unequal Consideration Neutralizing Some Arguments for Unequal Consideration of Interests Challenges to Unequal Consideration 7.7 | Defense of a Qualified Equal-Consideration Account The Wide Rights View The Qualified Equal-Consideration Model: A First Approximation The Problem of Gradations and a Modification of Our Account 7.8 | Embryonic Stem-Cell Research 7.9 | Research with Rodent Subjects 7.10 | Research Involving Great Apes Chapter 8 | Well-Being 8.1 | Introduction 8.2 | Subjective Theories 8.3 | Objective Theories 8.4 | Three Challenges for Theories of Well-Being 8.5 | Sketch of a Subjective Theory of Well-Being 8.6 | Convergence among Plausible Theories 8.7 | Disability in Relation to Well-Being 8.8 | Making Decisions for Impaired Newborns 8.9 | Irreversibly Unconscious Patients Chapter 9 | Personal Identity Theory 9.1 | Introduction 9.2 | Person-Based Accounts and Their Difficulties 9.3 | The Biological Account 9.4 | A Mind-Based Account 9.5 | A Social Account 9.6 | Our Approach to Personal Identity 9.7 | Personal Identity and Human Enhancement Background Concerns about Numerical Identity Concerns about Narrative Identity 9.8 | The Authority of Advance Directives in Cases of Severe Dementia Background The Someone Else Problem and Numerical Identity What about Narrative Identity? 9.9 | The Definition and Determination of Human Death Background Implications of the Biological Account Implications of the Mind-Based Account Living with Pluralism about Standards of Death Chapter 10 | Creating Human Beings 10.1 | Introduction 10.2 | Procreative Autonomy The Right to Procreative Autonomy Procreative Autonomy and Public Policy 10.3 | Evaluating Creation Fixed-Identity Decisions Identity-Determining Decisions: The Nonidentity Problem 10.4 | Sex Selection 10.5 | Zika and the Nonidentity Problem Concluding Thoughts Recommended Further Readings Bioethics Moral Philosophy Political and Legal Philosophy Topics in Bioethics and Philosophy Index