Practical Reasoning in Bioethics

"This is a valuable clarification, re-statement and defence of principlism as an approach to applied ethics. It is strongly recommended to many teachers of bioethics..." —Journal of the American Medical Association

"Childress’ book deserves careful study by all concerned with the ethical aspect of contemporary biomedical challenges." —Science Books & Films

"An ideal supplement for a graduate seminar on bioethics or for upper-division undergraduates needing more information in this area." —Choice

In these revised and updated essays, renowned ethicist James F. Childress highlights the role of imagination in practical reasoning through various metaphors and analogies. His discussion of ethical problems contributes to a better understanding of the scope and strength of different moral principles, such as justice, beneficence, and respect for autonomy. At the same time, Childress demonstrates the major role of metaphorical, analogical, and symbolic reasoning in biomedical ethics, largely in conjunction with, rather than in opposition to, principled reasoning.

The book contains no figures.

"This is a valuable clarification, re-statement and defence of principlism as an approach to applied ethics. It is strongly recommended to many teachers of bioethics..." — Journal of the American Medical Association

"Childress' book deserves careful study by all concerned with the ethical aspect of contemporary biomedical challenges." — Science Books & Films

"An ideal supplement for a graduate seminar on bioethics or for upper-division undergraduates needing more information in this area." — Choice

In these revised and updated essays, renowned ethicist James F. Childress highlights the role of imagination in practical reasoning through various metaphors and analogies. His discussion of ethical problems contributes to a better understanding of the scope and strength of different moral principles, such as justice, beneficence, and respect for autonomy. At the same time, Childress demonstrates the major role of metaphorical, analogical, and symbolic reasoning in biomedical ethics, largely in conjunction with, rather than in opposition to, principled reasoning.

Booknews

In 16 essays revised and updated from original publication mostly in the 1980s and 1990s, Childress (religious studies and medical education, U. of Virginia) uses various metaphors and analogies to highlight the role of imagination in practical reasoning about moral problems and issues in science, medicine, and health care. Among those are screening and testing for HIV infection, informed consent to and refusal of life-sustaining treatment, allocating scarce health-care resources, providing access to health care, and obtaining organs and tissues for transplantation. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

James F. Childress is the Edwin B. Kyle Professor of Religious Studies and Professor of Medical Education at the University of Virginia, where he also co-directs the Virginia Health Policy Center. He is the author of over a hundred articles, many of them in biomedical ethics; his several books include Principles of Biomedical Ethics (with Tom L. Beauchamp), Who Should Decide? Paternalism in Health Care, and Priorities in Biomedical Ethics.