A Theory of Bioethics

Offers a compelling theory of bioethics, covering medical assistance-in-dying, the right to health care, abortion, animal research, and the definition of death.

David DeGrazia (Author), Joseph Millum (Author)

9781009011747, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 August 2021

300 pages
23 x 15 x 1.9 cm, 0.48 kg

'… DeGrazia and Millum's analysis provides beginner and intermediate students in bioethics with a valuable overview of topics, as well as the most common approaches to resolving debated issues in bioethics. Their sources give intermediate and advanced students a well-selected reading list if they would like to read more on any given topic, and their approach integrates (successfully, in many cases) philosophical reflection and empirical data necessary to applied ethics. There is much to applaud in this new theory of bioethics.' Caitlin Maples, Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics

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. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Outline of the Dual Value Theory
4. Nonmaleficence and Negative Constraints
5. Autonomy
6. Distributive Justice and Beneficence
7. Moral Status
8. Well-Being
9. Personal Identity Theory
10. Creating Human Beings
Concluding Thoughts.

Subject Areas: Bio-ethics [PSAD], Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ]