Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0020
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Despite the devastating pandemic of HIV/AIDS that erupted in the early 1980s, despite the failure to eradicate polio and the emergence of resistant forms of tuberculosis that came into focus in the ...
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Despite the devastating pandemic of HIV/AIDS that erupted in the early 1980s, despite the failure to eradicate polio and the emergence of resistant forms of tuberculosis that came into focus in the 1990s, and despite newly emerging diseases like SARS in 2003 and the fearsome prospect of human-to-human avian flu, it is nevertheless a time of some excitement over prospects for effective control of much of infectious disease. Funded by national and international governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO); private foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and even popular entertainers, like Bono, large-scale new efforts are under way to address global killers like AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, among others. This “marvelous momentum” can be seen as part of a continuing effort from the time of Jenner on. Extrapolating from this, we “think big” in order to explore the notion of a comprehensive global effort. Five tracks are identified: 1) national and international organizations and the development of collective will; 2) epidemiologic and healthcare infrastructure; 3) scientific development; 4) religious, social, and cultural considerations; 5) legal and social protections for individuals and groups.Less
Despite the devastating pandemic of HIV/AIDS that erupted in the early 1980s, despite the failure to eradicate polio and the emergence of resistant forms of tuberculosis that came into focus in the 1990s, and despite newly emerging diseases like SARS in 2003 and the fearsome prospect of human-to-human avian flu, it is nevertheless a time of some excitement over prospects for effective control of much of infectious disease. Funded by national and international governmental and nongovernmental organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO); private foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and even popular entertainers, like Bono, large-scale new efforts are under way to address global killers like AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, among others. This “marvelous momentum” can be seen as part of a continuing effort from the time of Jenner on. Extrapolating from this, we “think big” in order to explore the notion of a comprehensive global effort. Five tracks are identified: 1) national and international organizations and the development of collective will; 2) epidemiologic and healthcare infrastructure; 3) scientific development; 4) religious, social, and cultural considerations; 5) legal and social protections for individuals and groups.
Caroline Jones
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199545520
- eISBN:
- 9780191721113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545520.003.0015
- Subject:
- Law, Medical Law
This chapter analyses the routes by which Parliamentary bodies move from consultation to formulating public policy in the controversial field of assisted conception and related technological ...
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This chapter analyses the routes by which Parliamentary bodies move from consultation to formulating public policy in the controversial field of assisted conception and related technological developments. It explores the findings of the Department of Health consultation, focusing not only on the official interpretation of the data, but to alternative constructions and problems created by the quasi-quantitative representation of the material at some junctures. On the one hand, this process has led to greater empathy for the Department of Health and other official bodies in sifting through the myriad responses, but on the other hand a creeping cynicism has also taken hold. It is clear that there are significant issues about the way that data is presented by governmental and Parliamentary bodies, and even in the absence of the use of statistical data it remains feasible to skew the presentation of data in ways that are, strictly speaking, factually correct but simultaneously misleading about the dataset as a whole.Less
This chapter analyses the routes by which Parliamentary bodies move from consultation to formulating public policy in the controversial field of assisted conception and related technological developments. It explores the findings of the Department of Health consultation, focusing not only on the official interpretation of the data, but to alternative constructions and problems created by the quasi-quantitative representation of the material at some junctures. On the one hand, this process has led to greater empathy for the Department of Health and other official bodies in sifting through the myriad responses, but on the other hand a creeping cynicism has also taken hold. It is clear that there are significant issues about the way that data is presented by governmental and Parliamentary bodies, and even in the absence of the use of statistical data it remains feasible to skew the presentation of data in ways that are, strictly speaking, factually correct but simultaneously misleading about the dataset as a whole.
Belinda Bennett, Isabel Karpin, Angela Ballantyne, and Wendy Rogers
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199545520
- eISBN:
- 9780191721113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso:acprof/9780199545520.003.0022
- Subject:
- Law, Medical Law
This chapter presents the current challenges facing legislators, regulators, researchers, and ethics committees in determining how and when to include women appropriately in research, and ensure that ...
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This chapter presents the current challenges facing legislators, regulators, researchers, and ethics committees in determining how and when to include women appropriately in research, and ensure that sex analysis of research results is routinely performed. It offers five issues that require attention to address these challenges: that national regulatory statements could provide researchers with definitions of the terms ‘sex’ , ‘gender’, and ‘gender equity’ in research; that sex and gender analysis should be built into health research protocols; the lack of internationally comparable data regarding the rates of inclusion of men and women presents a major hurdle for analysing the efficacy of different regulatory strategies; the accessibility of data would be facilitated by a requirement for publication of the results of health research to include descriptions of sex analysis performed on research data; and that institutional review boards, research ethics committees, and researchers themselves require better education about the scientific and ethical importance of including of women in clinical research.Less
This chapter presents the current challenges facing legislators, regulators, researchers, and ethics committees in determining how and when to include women appropriately in research, and ensure that sex analysis of research results is routinely performed. It offers five issues that require attention to address these challenges: that national regulatory statements could provide researchers with definitions of the terms ‘sex’ , ‘gender’, and ‘gender equity’ in research; that sex and gender analysis should be built into health research protocols; the lack of internationally comparable data regarding the rates of inclusion of men and women presents a major hurdle for analysing the efficacy of different regulatory strategies; the accessibility of data would be facilitated by a requirement for publication of the results of health research to include descriptions of sex analysis performed on research data; and that institutional review boards, research ethics committees, and researchers themselves require better education about the scientific and ethical importance of including of women in clinical research.
Katerina Sideri
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199545520
- eISBN:
- 9780191721113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545520.003.0005
- Subject:
- Law, Medical Law
This chapter explores the philosophical tradition of virtue ethics to link the relevant discussion to bioethics, the idea of human flourishing, and the principles of practical reason, justice, and ...
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This chapter explores the philosophical tradition of virtue ethics to link the relevant discussion to bioethics, the idea of human flourishing, and the principles of practical reason, justice, and equity. It argues that a dynamic understanding of health, promoting empowerment and capacity building, should present us with a primary bioethical endeavour. This position brings to the foreground important questions as to the ways bioethics should be governed at the international level, whilst capturing the pluralist content of secular bioethics by means of stressing the importance of participation and deliberation when facing relevant regulatory dilemmas.Less
This chapter explores the philosophical tradition of virtue ethics to link the relevant discussion to bioethics, the idea of human flourishing, and the principles of practical reason, justice, and equity. It argues that a dynamic understanding of health, promoting empowerment and capacity building, should present us with a primary bioethical endeavour. This position brings to the foreground important questions as to the ways bioethics should be governed at the international level, whilst capturing the pluralist content of secular bioethics by means of stressing the importance of participation and deliberation when facing relevant regulatory dilemmas.
Michael Freeman (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199545520
- eISBN:
- 9780191721113
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199545520.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Medical Law
This chapter considers a case study of global pharmaceutical patents to examine possible engagements between law, in particular human rights law, and bioethics. It argues that current theories of ...
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This chapter considers a case study of global pharmaceutical patents to examine possible engagements between law, in particular human rights law, and bioethics. It argues that current theories of public health law rarely address the interdependency between law at the national and international levels. But one cannot ‘isolate a state from its global interactions and focus on the relationship between law and public health within impermeable [national] borders’. There is a need for a ‘globalized theory of public health law’, which would include multinational organizations within its parameters.Less
This chapter considers a case study of global pharmaceutical patents to examine possible engagements between law, in particular human rights law, and bioethics. It argues that current theories of public health law rarely address the interdependency between law at the national and international levels. But one cannot ‘isolate a state from its global interactions and focus on the relationship between law and public health within impermeable [national] borders’. There is a need for a ‘globalized theory of public health law’, which would include multinational organizations within its parameters.
Alan Cribb
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199242733
- eISBN:
- 9780191603549
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199242739.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
The goals of healthcare and health policy, and the health-related dilemmas facing policy makers, professionals, and citizens are analysed and debated in a range of disciplines, including public ...
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The goals of healthcare and health policy, and the health-related dilemmas facing policy makers, professionals, and citizens are analysed and debated in a range of disciplines, including public health, sociology, and applied philosophy. The book's core argument is that clinical ethics needs to be understood in the context of public health ethics. This entails healthcare ethics embracing ‘the social dimension’ of health in two overlapping senses: first, the various respects in which health experiences and outcomes are socially determined; and second, the ways in which health-related goods are better understood as social rather then purely individual goods. This broader approach to the ethics of healthcare includes a concern with the social construction of both healthcare goods and the roles, ideals, and obligations of agents; that is to say it focuses upon the ‘value field’ of health-related action and not only upon the ethics of action within this value field. This book thus ‘opens up’ the agenda of healthcare ethics both methodologically and substantively: it argues that population-oriented perspectives are central to all healthcare ethics, and that everybody has some share of responsibility for securing health-related goods including the good of greater health equality. One of its major conclusions is that the rather limited tradition of health education policy and practice needs a complete re-think.Less
The goals of healthcare and health policy, and the health-related dilemmas facing policy makers, professionals, and citizens are analysed and debated in a range of disciplines, including public health, sociology, and applied philosophy. The book's core argument is that clinical ethics needs to be understood in the context of public health ethics. This entails healthcare ethics embracing ‘the social dimension’ of health in two overlapping senses: first, the various respects in which health experiences and outcomes are socially determined; and second, the ways in which health-related goods are better understood as social rather then purely individual goods. This broader approach to the ethics of healthcare includes a concern with the social construction of both healthcare goods and the roles, ideals, and obligations of agents; that is to say it focuses upon the ‘value field’ of health-related action and not only upon the ethics of action within this value field. This book thus ‘opens up’ the agenda of healthcare ethics both methodologically and substantively: it argues that population-oriented perspectives are central to all healthcare ethics, and that everybody has some share of responsibility for securing health-related goods including the good of greater health equality. One of its major conclusions is that the rather limited tradition of health education policy and practice needs a complete re-think.
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0012
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Since testing for HIV became possible in 1985, the testing of pregnant women has been primarily voluntary, “opt-in,” but there have been repeated predictions that with the development of more ...
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Since testing for HIV became possible in 1985, the testing of pregnant women has been primarily voluntary, “opt-in,” but there have been repeated predictions that with the development of more reliable testing and more effective therapy, testing should become routine with “opt-out” provisions, or even mandatory. This chapter asks—in the light of new technologies for rapid testing such as OraQuick and the capacity to reduce maternal/fetal transmission rates to less than 2%—whether that time is now. Illustrating the argument with cases from the United States, Kenya, Peru, and an undocumented Mexican worker in the United States, this chapter shows that when testing is accompanied by assured multi-drug continuing treatment for HIV for the mother, the argument for mandatory testing of pregnant women is strong, but that it is problematic where testing is accompanied by adverse events such as spousal abuse, or by inadequate intrapartum or followup treatment—the latter a circumstance common where aggressive AIDS testing programs are being introduced in many areas of the world. The difference is not a “double standard,” but reflects the presence of conflicts between the health interests of the mother and the fetus—conflicts that would be abrogated by the assurance of therapy. In light of these conflicts where they still occur, as in much of the world, careful processes of informed consent are appropriate, rather than mandatory or “opt-out” testing.Less
Since testing for HIV became possible in 1985, the testing of pregnant women has been primarily voluntary, “opt-in,” but there have been repeated predictions that with the development of more reliable testing and more effective therapy, testing should become routine with “opt-out” provisions, or even mandatory. This chapter asks—in the light of new technologies for rapid testing such as OraQuick and the capacity to reduce maternal/fetal transmission rates to less than 2%—whether that time is now. Illustrating the argument with cases from the United States, Kenya, Peru, and an undocumented Mexican worker in the United States, this chapter shows that when testing is accompanied by assured multi-drug continuing treatment for HIV for the mother, the argument for mandatory testing of pregnant women is strong, but that it is problematic where testing is accompanied by adverse events such as spousal abuse, or by inadequate intrapartum or followup treatment—the latter a circumstance common where aggressive AIDS testing programs are being introduced in many areas of the world. The difference is not a “double standard,” but reflects the presence of conflicts between the health interests of the mother and the fetus—conflicts that would be abrogated by the assurance of therapy. In light of these conflicts where they still occur, as in much of the world, careful processes of informed consent are appropriate, rather than mandatory or “opt-out” testing.
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0014
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in women who receive the vaccine before they are sexually active and thus become at ...
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The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in women who receive the vaccine before they are sexually active and thus become at risk of becoming infected with HPV. This chapter explores the debate over mandating that girls aged 11-12 years receive the (HPV) vaccine as a requirement for school entry. The religious and principled objections posed to mandatory immunization practices are reviewed in general as well as the unique issues related to the fact that HPV is a sexually transmitted disease; also examined are the justice issues raised by the fact that the HPV vaccine is too expensive to be available to the large populations of women in developing countries, yet other methods of cervical cancer detection and prevention are not available. The PVV view suggests that, as with other immunizations, an opt-out option should be maintained, but only for the most strongly held religious or other personal beliefs. Any decision maker—a competent adult, the parent of an infant or an adolescent, an adolescent along with the parent, or a policy maker—must take into account the consequences for both victims and vectors of decisions that are made about disease that can be controlled by immunization.Less
The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of cervical cancer in women who receive the vaccine before they are sexually active and thus become at risk of becoming infected with HPV. This chapter explores the debate over mandating that girls aged 11-12 years receive the (HPV) vaccine as a requirement for school entry. The religious and principled objections posed to mandatory immunization practices are reviewed in general as well as the unique issues related to the fact that HPV is a sexually transmitted disease; also examined are the justice issues raised by the fact that the HPV vaccine is too expensive to be available to the large populations of women in developing countries, yet other methods of cervical cancer detection and prevention are not available. The PVV view suggests that, as with other immunizations, an opt-out option should be maintained, but only for the most strongly held religious or other personal beliefs. Any decision maker—a competent adult, the parent of an infant or an adolescent, an adolescent along with the parent, or a policy maker—must take into account the consequences for both victims and vectors of decisions that are made about disease that can be controlled by immunization.
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter examines the characteristics of infectious disease that raise special medical and social ethical issues, and explores ways of integrating both current bioethics and classical public ...
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This chapter examines the characteristics of infectious disease that raise special medical and social ethical issues, and explores ways of integrating both current bioethics and classical public health ethics concerns. Many of the ethical issues raised by infectious disease are related to these diseases' powerful ability to engender fear in individuals and panic in populations. The chapter addresses the association of some infectious diseases with high morbidity and mortality rates, the sense that infectious diseases are caused by invasion or attack on humans by foreign microorganisms, the acute onset and rapid course of many infectious diseases, and, in particular, the communicability of infectious diseases. The individual fear and community panic associated with infectious diseases often leads to rapid, emotionally driven decision-making about public health policies needed to protect the community that may be in conflict with current bioethical principles regarding the care of individual patients. The discussion includes recent examples where dialogue between public health practitioners and bioethicists has helped resolve ethical issues that require us to consider the infected patient as both a victim with individual needs and rights, and as a potential vector of disease that is of concern to the community.Less
This chapter examines the characteristics of infectious disease that raise special medical and social ethical issues, and explores ways of integrating both current bioethics and classical public health ethics concerns. Many of the ethical issues raised by infectious disease are related to these diseases' powerful ability to engender fear in individuals and panic in populations. The chapter addresses the association of some infectious diseases with high morbidity and mortality rates, the sense that infectious diseases are caused by invasion or attack on humans by foreign microorganisms, the acute onset and rapid course of many infectious diseases, and, in particular, the communicability of infectious diseases. The individual fear and community panic associated with infectious diseases often leads to rapid, emotionally driven decision-making about public health policies needed to protect the community that may be in conflict with current bioethical principles regarding the care of individual patients. The discussion includes recent examples where dialogue between public health practitioners and bioethicists has helped resolve ethical issues that require us to consider the infected patient as both a victim with individual needs and rights, and as a potential vector of disease that is of concern to the community.
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter first documents the virtually complete absence of infectious disease examples and concerns at the time bioethics emerged as a field. It then argues that this oversight was not benign by ...
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This chapter first documents the virtually complete absence of infectious disease examples and concerns at the time bioethics emerged as a field. It then argues that this oversight was not benign by considering two central issues in the field—informed consent and distributive justice—and showing how they might have been framed differently had infectiousness been at the forefront of concern. The solution to this omission might be to apply standard approaches in liberal bioethics, such as autonomy and the harm principle, to infectious examples. It is argued that this is insufficient, however. Taking infectious disease into account requires understanding the patient as victim and as vector. Infectiousness reminds us that as autonomous agents we are both embodied and vulnerable in our relationships with others. The chapter concludes by applying this re-understanding of agency to the examples of informed consent and distributive justice in health care.Less
This chapter first documents the virtually complete absence of infectious disease examples and concerns at the time bioethics emerged as a field. It then argues that this oversight was not benign by considering two central issues in the field—informed consent and distributive justice—and showing how they might have been framed differently had infectiousness been at the forefront of concern. The solution to this omission might be to apply standard approaches in liberal bioethics, such as autonomy and the harm principle, to infectious examples. It is argued that this is insufficient, however. Taking infectious disease into account requires understanding the patient as victim and as vector. Infectiousness reminds us that as autonomous agents we are both embodied and vulnerable in our relationships with others. The chapter concludes by applying this re-understanding of agency to the examples of informed consent and distributive justice in health care.
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter uses the example of a homeless man with multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis to explore ethical conflicts that arise between the public health officers' emphasis on “control-the-vector” ...
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This chapter uses the example of a homeless man with multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis to explore ethical conflicts that arise between the public health officers' emphasis on “control-the-vector” approach to managing tuberculosis patients, which may include involuntary screening, isolation, and coerced treatment, and the concerns of autonomy-oriented traditional medical ethicists that patients' rights be respected. It suggests a synthesis of these competing values and approaches that might be implemented by a physician who cares both for the patient and for the health of the public, and who understands that the individual patient is as vulnerable to being infected by others as others are to being infected by the patient. The chapter also raises issues about care of the dying in transmissible infectious disease: in this case, the patient wants only to go home and be with his dog, but for disease-control reasons cannot be allowed to be at large. The tension is reduced with a creative solution in a way that demonstrates a simple case of recognizing that the patient is both victim and vector at one and the same time.Less
This chapter uses the example of a homeless man with multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis to explore ethical conflicts that arise between the public health officers' emphasis on “control-the-vector” approach to managing tuberculosis patients, which may include involuntary screening, isolation, and coerced treatment, and the concerns of autonomy-oriented traditional medical ethicists that patients' rights be respected. It suggests a synthesis of these competing values and approaches that might be implemented by a physician who cares both for the patient and for the health of the public, and who understands that the individual patient is as vulnerable to being infected by others as others are to being infected by the patient. The chapter also raises issues about care of the dying in transmissible infectious disease: in this case, the patient wants only to go home and be with his dog, but for disease-control reasons cannot be allowed to be at large. The tension is reduced with a creative solution in a way that demonstrates a simple case of recognizing that the patient is both victim and vector at one and the same time.
Sarah Harper (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199251162
- eISBN:
- 9780191602740
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199251169.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This book explores the interactions between family and ageing in Western industrialised societies. It features 10 chapters. Chapters 1-3 provide and overview of the demographic and social factors in ...
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This book explores the interactions between family and ageing in Western industrialised societies. It features 10 chapters. Chapters 1-3 provide and overview of the demographic and social factors in aging societies. Chapters 4-5 address the specific roles and relationships emerging within contemporary families. Chapters 6-8 discuss the care and support for older relatives. Chapters 9-10 focus on topics that have received little attention — inheritance and the impact of family on the health of its members.Less
This book explores the interactions between family and ageing in Western industrialised societies. It features 10 chapters. Chapters 1-3 provide and overview of the demographic and social factors in aging societies. Chapters 4-5 address the specific roles and relationships emerging within contemporary families. Chapters 6-8 discuss the care and support for older relatives. Chapters 9-10 focus on topics that have received little attention — inheritance and the impact of family on the health of its members.
Mike W. Martin
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195304718
- eISBN:
- 9780199786572
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195304713.003.Epilogue
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This epilogue presents some concluding thoughts. It argues that America's therapeutic trend in ethics — the tendency to approach moral matters in terms of mental health — was politicized by America's ...
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This epilogue presents some concluding thoughts. It argues that America's therapeutic trend in ethics — the tendency to approach moral matters in terms of mental health — was politicized by America's culture wars during the second half of the 20th century. It comments on the political resonance of three themes: healthy morality, responsibility for health, and mental health as moral-laden.Less
This epilogue presents some concluding thoughts. It argues that America's therapeutic trend in ethics — the tendency to approach moral matters in terms of mental health — was politicized by America's culture wars during the second half of the 20th century. It comments on the political resonance of three themes: healthy morality, responsibility for health, and mental health as moral-laden.
Benjamin D. Koen
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195367744
- eISBN:
- 9780199867295
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367744.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
Western medicine has conventionally separated music, science, and religion into distinct entities, yet traditional cultures throughout the world have always viewed music as a bridge that connects and ...
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Western medicine has conventionally separated music, science, and religion into distinct entities, yet traditional cultures throughout the world have always viewed music as a bridge that connects and balances the physical with the spiritual to promote health and healing. As people in even the most technologically advanced nations across the globe struggle with obtaining affordable and reliable healthcare, more and more people are now turning to these ancient cultural practices of holistic and ICAM healing (integrative, complementary, and alternative medicine). This book convincingly demonstrates the relevance of medical ethnomusicology in light of the globally spreading ICAM approaches to health and healing. Revealing the Western separation of healing from spiritual and musical practices as a culturally determined phenomenon, the book confirms their underlying unity. In a place poetically known as the Roof of the World, the culture found within the towering Pamir Mountains of Badakhshan Tajikistan serves as the paradigm of ICAM healing practices. The book’s research and immersion into the Badakhshani culture provides a well-balanced “insider” perspective while maintaining an “observer’s” view, as it effectively bridges the widespread gaps between ethnomusicology, health science, and music therapy.Less
Western medicine has conventionally separated music, science, and religion into distinct entities, yet traditional cultures throughout the world have always viewed music as a bridge that connects and balances the physical with the spiritual to promote health and healing. As people in even the most technologically advanced nations across the globe struggle with obtaining affordable and reliable healthcare, more and more people are now turning to these ancient cultural practices of holistic and ICAM healing (integrative, complementary, and alternative medicine). This book convincingly demonstrates the relevance of medical ethnomusicology in light of the globally spreading ICAM approaches to health and healing. Revealing the Western separation of healing from spiritual and musical practices as a culturally determined phenomenon, the book confirms their underlying unity. In a place poetically known as the Roof of the World, the culture found within the towering Pamir Mountains of Badakhshan Tajikistan serves as the paradigm of ICAM healing practices. The book’s research and immersion into the Badakhshani culture provides a well-balanced “insider” perspective while maintaining an “observer’s” view, as it effectively bridges the widespread gaps between ethnomusicology, health science, and music therapy.
Geoffrey Lloyd
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199214617
- eISBN:
- 9780191706493
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214617.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Mind
This book presents a study of the problems posed by the unity and diversity of the human mind. On the one hand, as humans we all share broadly the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and certain ...
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This book presents a study of the problems posed by the unity and diversity of the human mind. On the one hand, as humans we all share broadly the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and certain psychological capabilities — the capacity to learn a language, for instance. On the other, different individuals and groups have very different talents, tastes, and beliefs, for instance about how they see themselves, other humans and the world around them. These issues are highly charged, for any denial of psychic unity savours of racism, while many assertions of psychic diversity raise the spectres of arbitrary relativism, the incommensurability of beliefs systems, and their mutual unintelligibility. The book examines where different types of arguments, scientific, philosophical, anthropological and historical, can take us. It discusses colour perception, spatial cognition, animal and plant taxonomy, the emotions, ideas of health and well-being, concepts of the self, agency and causation, varying perceptions of the distinction between nature and culture, and reasoning itself. It pays attention to the multidimensionality of the phenomena to be apprehended and to the diversity of manners, or styles, of apprehending them. The weight to be given to different factors, physical, biological, psychological, cultural, ideological, varies as between different subject areas and sometimes even within a single area. The book uses recent work in social anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science, neurophysiology, and the history of ideas to redefine the problems and clarify how our evident psychic diversity can be reconciled with our shared humanity.Less
This book presents a study of the problems posed by the unity and diversity of the human mind. On the one hand, as humans we all share broadly the same anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and certain psychological capabilities — the capacity to learn a language, for instance. On the other, different individuals and groups have very different talents, tastes, and beliefs, for instance about how they see themselves, other humans and the world around them. These issues are highly charged, for any denial of psychic unity savours of racism, while many assertions of psychic diversity raise the spectres of arbitrary relativism, the incommensurability of beliefs systems, and their mutual unintelligibility. The book examines where different types of arguments, scientific, philosophical, anthropological and historical, can take us. It discusses colour perception, spatial cognition, animal and plant taxonomy, the emotions, ideas of health and well-being, concepts of the self, agency and causation, varying perceptions of the distinction between nature and culture, and reasoning itself. It pays attention to the multidimensionality of the phenomena to be apprehended and to the diversity of manners, or styles, of apprehending them. The weight to be given to different factors, physical, biological, psychological, cultural, ideological, varies as between different subject areas and sometimes even within a single area. The book uses recent work in social anthropology, linguistics, cognitive science, neurophysiology, and the history of ideas to redefine the problems and clarify how our evident psychic diversity can be reconciled with our shared humanity.
Debra L. Dodson
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780198296744
- eISBN:
- 9780191603709
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198296746.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This book explores the complex relationship between women’s presence and impact in two strikingly different, consecutive congresses. Drawing on hundreds of elite interviews and archival information, ...
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This book explores the complex relationship between women’s presence and impact in two strikingly different, consecutive congresses. Drawing on hundreds of elite interviews and archival information, the case studies of three highly visible policy areas (reproductive rights, women’s health, and health care policy) move beyond the question of ‘Do women make a difference?’ to confront the oft-ignored, contested issues surrounding gender difference and impact: its probabilistic nature, contested legitimacy, and disputed meaning. The analysis enhances understanding of how gendered forces at the individual, institutional, and societal levels combine to reinforce and redefine gendered relationships to power in the public sphere, and suggests strategies to strengthen substantive representation of women.Less
This book explores the complex relationship between women’s presence and impact in two strikingly different, consecutive congresses. Drawing on hundreds of elite interviews and archival information, the case studies of three highly visible policy areas (reproductive rights, women’s health, and health care policy) move beyond the question of ‘Do women make a difference?’ to confront the oft-ignored, contested issues surrounding gender difference and impact: its probabilistic nature, contested legitimacy, and disputed meaning. The analysis enhances understanding of how gendered forces at the individual, institutional, and societal levels combine to reinforce and redefine gendered relationships to power in the public sphere, and suggests strategies to strengthen substantive representation of women.
Margaret P. Battin, Leslie P. Francis, Jay A. Jacobson, and Charles B. Smith
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195335842
- eISBN:
- 9780199868926
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195335842.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
Only decades ago infectious disease was thought about to become a “closed book,” thanks to developments in sanitation, immunization, and antibiotics, together with other scientific and public health ...
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Only decades ago infectious disease was thought about to become a “closed book,” thanks to developments in sanitation, immunization, and antibiotics, together with other scientific and public health milestones. Bioethics came into being during this period and, as documented in Chapter 4, essentially left considerations about communicable infectious disease out. The book argues throughout that this was a remarkably unfortunate lapse, given the intensified threats of infectious disease both in the developed world and especially as a matter of global health. The book develops what is called the “patient as victim and vector” or PVV view, the bedrock of this book, an augmentation of existing bioethics theory and ethics generally, as a way of dealing with the ethical issues that communicable infectious disease presents in both theory and practice. This is to see communicable infectious disease as central in bioethics generally, not as a rare or peripheral phenomenon but as something basic to the human condition.Less
Only decades ago infectious disease was thought about to become a “closed book,” thanks to developments in sanitation, immunization, and antibiotics, together with other scientific and public health milestones. Bioethics came into being during this period and, as documented in Chapter 4, essentially left considerations about communicable infectious disease out. The book argues throughout that this was a remarkably unfortunate lapse, given the intensified threats of infectious disease both in the developed world and especially as a matter of global health. The book develops what is called the “patient as victim and vector” or PVV view, the bedrock of this book, an augmentation of existing bioethics theory and ethics generally, as a way of dealing with the ethical issues that communicable infectious disease presents in both theory and practice. This is to see communicable infectious disease as central in bioethics generally, not as a rare or peripheral phenomenon but as something basic to the human condition.
Jaap Goudsmit
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195130348
- eISBN:
- 9780199790166
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195130348.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Microbiology
Rarely have humans been as threatened by viruses as they are today. It almost seems as if a virus invasion is taking place. Viruses have lately been coming out of nowhere and appearing in the ...
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Rarely have humans been as threatened by viruses as they are today. It almost seems as if a virus invasion is taking place. Viruses have lately been coming out of nowhere and appearing in the strangest places — exotic viruses about which no one had ever heard before. Many human viruses have started out in the animal world. Are these viruses maybe escaping from their natural hosts? Are human beings simply available as easy prey? Why is all this happening now, and what does it mean for our future? What can we do to defend ourselves? This book addresses viral adaptation as a general phenomenon and examines the implications for public health of human behavior altering viral ecosystems. This book discusses the phenomenon of viral emergence.Less
Rarely have humans been as threatened by viruses as they are today. It almost seems as if a virus invasion is taking place. Viruses have lately been coming out of nowhere and appearing in the strangest places — exotic viruses about which no one had ever heard before. Many human viruses have started out in the animal world. Are these viruses maybe escaping from their natural hosts? Are human beings simply available as easy prey? Why is all this happening now, and what does it mean for our future? What can we do to defend ourselves? This book addresses viral adaptation as a general phenomenon and examines the implications for public health of human behavior altering viral ecosystems. This book discusses the phenomenon of viral emergence.
Jill Duerr Berrick and Neil Gilbert (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195310122
- eISBN:
- 9780199865284
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195310122.001.0001
- Subject:
- Social Work, Social Policy, Children and Families
Over the last half a century, technological and medical advances, shifting patterns of employment, the loosening of marital bonds, changing social norms, and the women's rights movement have ...
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Over the last half a century, technological and medical advances, shifting patterns of employment, the loosening of marital bonds, changing social norms, and the women's rights movement have dramatically altered the landscape of family life. On this new terrain, parents struggle with balancing the demands of work and child care responsibilities, selecting the right schools, and sorting through a bewildering array of medical and psychological nostrums. At the same time, public officials are under increasing pressure to formulate policies that assist parents to meet the challenges of childrearing in contemporary society. This book looks at the troubling concerns of childrearing in modern family life, and raises provocative questions about the benefits and hazards of policy alternatives designed to alleviate these issues. It frames the emerging needs and new risks that impact child rearing, addressing controversial issues such as the roles of schools and government in promoting children's health, the facts and the myths about Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the family dynamics of balancing work and childcare, and allocating responsibility for care and support of children when family life breaks down. The book analyzes a range of state interventions to assist parents in dealing with these issues. Although these interventions are sometimes seen as a substitute for parental authority, the book explains how they can be framed as efforts to empower parents.Less
Over the last half a century, technological and medical advances, shifting patterns of employment, the loosening of marital bonds, changing social norms, and the women's rights movement have dramatically altered the landscape of family life. On this new terrain, parents struggle with balancing the demands of work and child care responsibilities, selecting the right schools, and sorting through a bewildering array of medical and psychological nostrums. At the same time, public officials are under increasing pressure to formulate policies that assist parents to meet the challenges of childrearing in contemporary society. This book looks at the troubling concerns of childrearing in modern family life, and raises provocative questions about the benefits and hazards of policy alternatives designed to alleviate these issues. It frames the emerging needs and new risks that impact child rearing, addressing controversial issues such as the roles of schools and government in promoting children's health, the facts and the myths about Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the family dynamics of balancing work and childcare, and allocating responsibility for care and support of children when family life breaks down. The book analyzes a range of state interventions to assist parents in dealing with these issues. Although these interventions are sometimes seen as a substitute for parental authority, the book explains how they can be framed as efforts to empower parents.
Frédéric Thomas, François Renaud, and Jean-François Guegan (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198529873
- eISBN:
- 9780191712777
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198529873.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Disease Ecology / Epidemiology
Ecologists, epidemiologists, and evolutionary biologists are increasingly aware of the significance of parasites in the study of ecosystems. This book provides a summary of the issues involved as ...
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Ecologists, epidemiologists, and evolutionary biologists are increasingly aware of the significance of parasites in the study of ecosystems. This book provides a summary of the issues involved as well as an overview of the possibilities offered by this research topic, using well-documented case-studies to illustrate the main trends and prospects in this area. This is the first book devoted to the comprehension of both the roles and consequences of pathogens in ecosystems.Less
Ecologists, epidemiologists, and evolutionary biologists are increasingly aware of the significance of parasites in the study of ecosystems. This book provides a summary of the issues involved as well as an overview of the possibilities offered by this research topic, using well-documented case-studies to illustrate the main trends and prospects in this area. This is the first book devoted to the comprehension of both the roles and consequences of pathogens in ecosystems.
