Table Of ContentBioethics
Bioethics
Ancient Themes in Contemporary Issues
edited by Mark G.Kuczewski and Ronald Polansky
In recent years,bioethicists have worked on government
commissions,on ethics committees in hospitals and nursing
B Ancient Themes in Contemporar y Issues
homes,and as bedside consultants.Because ethical knowledge
i
is based on experience within the field rather than on universal o
theoretical propositions,it is open to criticism for its lack of e
theoretical foundation.Once in the clinic,however,ethicists have t
h
noted the extent to which medical practice itself combines the
certitudes of science with craft forms of knowledge.In an effort i
c
to forge a middle path between pure science and applied
s
medical and ethical knowledge,bioethicists have turned to the
work of classical philosophy,especially the theme of a practical
K
wisdom that entails a variable knowledge of particulars. u
c
z
In this book contemporary bioethicists and scholars of ancient e
w
philosophy explore the import of classical ethics on such press-
s
ing bioethical concerns as managed care,euthanasia,suicide,and k
i
abortion.Although the contributors write within the limits of a
n
their own disciplines,through cross-references and counterargu-
d
ments they engage in fruitful dialogue.
P
o
Mark G.Kuczewski is Director of Graduate Studies at the Center l
a
for the Study of Bioethics,Medical College of Wisconsin.Ronald n
s
Polansky is Professor of Philosophy at Duquesne University, k
y
Pennsylvania. ,
e
d
“These experts have melded ancient and modern thought and ito
r
theories with consummate skill.”—A.R.Davis,Choice s
“A behemoth of accurate,precisely edited,and efficiently present-
ed information.”—Journal of the American Medical Association
Basic Bioethics series
A Bradford Book
The MIT Press
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge,Massachusetts 02142
http://mitpress.mit.edu
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0-262-61177-5 edited by
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Mark G. Kuczewski and Ronald Polansky
Bioethics
Basic Bioethics
Glenn McGee and Arthur Caplan, editors
Pricing Life: Why It’s Time for Health Care Rationing
Peter A. Ubel
Bioethics: Ancient Themes in Contemporary Issues
edited by Mark G. Kuczewski and Ronald Polansky
Bioethics
Ancient Themes in Contemporary Issues
edited by Mark G. Kuczewski and Ronald Polansky
A Bradford Book
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or informa-
tion storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book was set in Sabon by Asco Typesetters, Hong Kong, in QuarkXPress.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bioethics:ancient themes in contemporary issues/edited by Mark G. Kuczewski
and Ronald Polansky.
p. cm.—(Basic bioethics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-11254-X (alk. paper)
1. Medical ethics. 2. Philosophy, Ancient. 3. Medicine, Greek and Roman.
I. Kuczewski, Mark G. II. Polansky, Ronald M., 1948– III. Series.
R724.B4585 2000
1745.2—dc21 00-020815
Contents
Series Foreword vii
Introduction ix
I The Character of Medical and Ethical Knowledge 1
1 Remembering the Hippocratics: Knowledge, Practice, and Ethos of
Ancient Greek Physician-Healers 3
Robert Bartz
2 Is Medicine Art, Science, or Practical Wisdom? Ancient and
Contemporary Reflections 31
Ronald Polansky
3 Phronesis and the Misdescription of Medicine: Against The
Medical School Commencement Speech 57
Kathryn Montgomery
4 Aristotle, Phronesis, and Postmodern Bioethics 67
David Thomasma
5 Confessions of an Unrepentant Sophist 93
Tod Chambers
6 Philosophical Therapy, Ancient and Modern 109
Julia E. Annas
II The Heuristic Value of Classical Approaches 129
7 Thrasymachus and Managed Care: How Not to Think about the
Craft of Medicine 131
Alex John London
vi Contents
8 Potentiality and Persons: An Aristotelian Perspective 155
Christopher Megone
9 Can Communitarianism End the Shrill and Interminable Public
Debates? Abortion as a Case-in-Point 179
Mark G. Kuczewski
10 Classical and Modern Reflections on Medical Ethics and the Best
Interests of the Sick Child 193
Daryl M. Tress
11 Facing Death Like a Stoic: Epictetus on Suicide in the Case of
Illness 229
Christopher E. Cosans
12 Euthanasia and the Physician’s Role: Reflections on Some Views in
the Ancient Greek Tradition 251
Georgios Anagnastopoulos
Contributors 291
Index 293
Series Foreword
We are pleased to present the second volume in the series Basic Bioethics.
The series presents innovative book-length manuscripts in bioethics to a
broad audience and introduces seminal scholarly manuscripts, state-of-
the-art reference works, and textbooks. Such broad areas as the philoso-
phy of medicine, advancing genetics and biotechnology, end-of-life care,
health and social policy, and the empirical study of biomedical life will be
engaged.
Glenn McGee
Arthur Caplan
Basic Bioethics Series Editorial Board
Tod S. Chambers
Carl Elliot
Susan Dorr Goold
Mark Kuczewski
Herman Saatkamp
Introduction
This collection of essays explores themes from ancient Greek philosophy
and medicine and their implications for contemporary medicine and bio-
medical ethics. Thus the work examines the relationship of two of the
most popular areas in the current revival of ethics, namely, classical ethics
and biomedical ethics—areas that have seldom been brought together in
any serious or sustained way. The essays in this volume are written by
established classical scholars and bioethicists. Each author works within
the framework of his or her discipline while seeking to unearth the impli-
cations for the other. For example, classical scholars examine the import
of the concept of practical wisdom (phronesis) for clinical medicine and
bioethicists reinterpret phronesis based upon their observations of medi-
cal practice. In similar fashion, the issue of abortion is examined from
within the theoretical framework of Aristotle’s thought as well as from
the perspective of the contemporary Aristotelian movement known as
communitarianism.
This compilation of essays reflects a new and burgeoning dialogue
between contemporary bioethicists and scholars of ancient Greek philos-
ophy—an interchange begun by bioethicists, who have made copious use
of classical themes in recent years. Everywhere one looks in current bio-
ethics literature, references to Aristotle and remarks about the need for
practical wisdom abound. This concern with classical ideas has roots in
two focal needs of contemporary bioethics: (1) to characterize both ethi-
cal and medical knowledge in a way that avoids foundationalism and (2)
to create a framework that can fruitfully elucidate particular ethical issues.
In the quest for a way to think about issues that is both flexible and able
to provide direction, bioethicists have turned to classical sources. In
Description:In recent years, bioethicists have worked on government commissions, on ethics committees in hospitals and nursing homes, and as bedside consultants. Because ethical knowledge is based on experience within the field rather than on universal theoretical propositions, it is open to criticism for its l
