The Philosophy of Medicine Reborn: A Pellegrino Reader

by Edmund D. Pellegrino, H. Tristram Engelhardt Jr. (Editor), Fabrice Jotterand (Editor)

Overview

Edmund D. Pellegrino has played a central role in shaping the fields of bioethics and the philosophy of medicine. His writings encompass original explorations of the healing relationship, the need to place humanism in the medical curriculum, the nature of the patient’s good, and the importance of a virtue-based normative ethics for health care.

In this anthology, H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., and Fabrice Jotterand have created a rich presentation of Pellegrino’s thought and its development. Pellegrino’s work has been dedicated to showing that bioethics must be understood in the context of medical humanities, and that medical humanities, in turn, must be understood in the context of the philosophy of medicine. Arguing that bioethics should not be restricted to topics such as abortion, third-party-assisted reproduction, physician-assisted suicide, or cloning, Pellegrino has instead stressed that such issues are shaped by foundational views regarding the nature of the physician-patient relationship and the goals of medicine, which are the proper focus of the philosophy of medicine.

This volume includes a preface (“Apologia”) by Dr. Pellegrino and a comprehensive Introduction by the editors. Of interest to medical ethicists as well as students, scholars, and physicians, The Philosophy of Medicine Reborn offers fascinating insights into the emergence of a field and the work of one of its pioneers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780268161477
Publisher:	University of Notre Dame Press
Publication date:	03/01/2008
Series:	Notre Dame Studies in Medical Ethics and Bioethics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	472
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Edmund D. Pellegrino (1920–2013) was professor emeritus of medicine and medical ethics and adjunct professor of philosophy at Georgetown University.

Fabrice Jotterand is associate professor and director of the Graduate Program in Bioethics at the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. (1941–2018) was professor of philosophy at Rice University and professor emeritus of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr., is professor of philosophy at Rice University and professor emeritus of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments     xi
Apologia for a Medical Truant   Edmund D. Pellegrino     xiii
An Introduction: Edmund D. Pellegrino's Project   H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr.   Fabrice Jotterand     1
Toward a Philosophy of Medicine
Philosophical Foundations of Medicine
What the Philosophy of Medicine Is     23
Philosophy of Medicine: Should It Be Teleologically or Socially Construed?     49
The Internal Morality of Clinical Medicine: A Paradigm for the Ethics of the Helping and Healing Professions     62
The Medical Profession
Humanistic Basis of Professional Ethics     87
The Commodification of Medical and Health Care: The Moral Consequences of a Paradigm Shift from a Professional to a Market Ethic     101
Medicine Today: Its Identity, Its Role, and the Role of Physicians     127
From Medical Ethics to a Moral Philosophy of the Professions     147
Physician-Patient Relationship
The Healing Relationship
Moral Choice, the Good of the Patient, and the Patient's Good     163
The Four Principles and the Doctor-Patient Relationship: The Need for a Better Linkage     187
Patient and Physician Autonomy: Conflicting Rights and Obligations in the Physician-Patient Relationship     204
Virtue in Medical Practice
The Physician as Moral Agent
Character, Virtue, and Self-Interest in theEthics of the Professions     231
Toward a Virtue-Based Normative Ethics for the Health Professions     255
The Physician's Conscience, Conscience Clauses, and Religious Belief: A Catholic Perspective     281
Humanism and Hippocrates: Facing the Future
Humanities in Medicine
The Most Humane of the Sciences, the Most Scientific of the Humanities     309
The Humanities in Medical Education: Entering the Post-Evangelical Era     332
Agape and Ethics: Some Reflections on Medical Morals from a Catholic Christian Perspective     349
Bioethics at Century's Turn: Can Normative Ethics Be Retrieved?     375
Hippocratic Tradition
Toward an Expanded Medical Ethics: The Hippocratic Ethic Revisited     401
Medical Ethics: Entering the Post-Hippocratic Era     424
Biography of Edmund D. Pellegrino     440
Index     442

Editorial Reviews

This volume is composed of a selection from Dr. Pellegrino's corpus of writings on medical ethics. To date, these essays have been unavailable in one work. . . . This reader provides essays on philosophical foundations of medicine, the medical profession, physician-patient relationship, physician as moral agent, humanism and the Hippocratic tradition.” —Issues in Law & Medicine

“Pellegrino believes bioethics should not be restricted to specific topics such as abortion, cloning, or physician-assisted suicide. In this collection of nineteen essays from across his career, Pellegrino describes the philosophical foundations of medicine and of the medical profession, the healing relationship, virtue and medical practice with the physician as moral agent, the humanities in medicine, and the Hippocratic tradition.” —Book News

“This remarkable book summarizes Edmund Pellegrino's writings by extracting several meaningful essays from his voluminous bibliography. These point to the dearth of humanities requirements for medical training and highlight the poverty of ethical considerations in medical decision-making. . . . Agree or disagree, this book needs to be read by all physicians, especially those whose education was devoid of philosophy. The editors have done an excellent job of offering a sage's viewpoint in an accessible form.” —Journal of American Medical Association

“Editors H. Tristam Engelhardt, Jr., and Fabrice Jotterand have carefully selected, organized, and interpreted the writings of Pellegrino, making them more accessible to students, scholars, physicians, and anyone generally interested in medical ethics. In almost a lecture style, the editors present an overview of each article, emphasizing the important developments in each, which will make this volume particularly useful as a teaching tool for a journal club or seminar course, or for anyone outside the field of bioethics looking for guidance on what to read.” —Quarterly Review of Biology

From the Publisher

After a long period of dormancy, the philosophy of medicine has blossomed with new life. The single most important physician-philosopher in that rebirth has been Edmund Pellegrino. His contributions to virtue theory, the concept of beneficence, the dispute over the internal and external sources of a morality for medicine, and the role of the Hippocratic tradition are all critical. The essays collected in this volume have changed the history of the philosophy of medicine.

Robert M. Veatch