The Ethical Commitment of Medicine: in relation to the work of Alfred I. Tauber

Authors

  • Ion Arrieta-Valero Universidad del País Vasco

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37467/gka-revmedica.v1.1287

Keywords:

autonomy, relational ethics, scientific medicine, humanist medicine, doctor-patient relationship

Abstract

Taking as starting point the recent translation into Spanish of his book Confessions of a medicine man, his most personal and applauded work, this article reviews the work of Alfred I. Tauber, one of the most influential voices currently in U.S. medical humanities. Tauber’s work is already very extensive and presents a wide variety of themes, but it is possible to identify two main concerns: the attempt to justify and implement an alternative to autonomist ethics that today dominates the medical practice and decision making on the one hand; and on the other hand, the concern for the excessive penchant for science and technology that usually shows current medicine, which would have nothing objectionable if it had not sacrificed in a clumsy and unnecessary way the empathetic and humanist element characteristic of the art of caring.

Author Biography

Ion Arrieta-Valero, Universidad del País Vasco

Licenciado en Filosofía, UPV/EHU. Máster en «Filosofía, Ciencia y Valores» UPV/EHU, UNAM. En la actualidad estoy realizando la tesis doctoral sobre «Conceptos de autonomía y enfermedad en Bioética» en el Departamento de Filosofía de los Valores y Antropología Social. Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU).

References

Tauber, A. I. (1994): The Immune Self: Theory or Metaphor? , New York and Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Tauber, A. I. (2001): Henry David Thoreau and the Moral Agency of Knowing , Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press.

Tauber, A. I. (2001): Confessions of a Medicine Man: An Essay in Popular Philosophy , Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press. [Confesiones de un médico. Un ensayo filosófico , Madrid, Triacastela, 2011].

Tauber, A. I. (2005): Patient Autonomy and the Ethics of Responsibility , Cambridge, The MIT Press.

Tauber, A. I. (2009): Science and the Quest for Meaning , Waco TX, Baylor University Press.

Tauber, A. I. (2010): Freud, the Reluctant Philosopher , Princeton, Princeton University Press.

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Published

2012-03-05

How to Cite

Arrieta-Valero, I. (2012). The Ethical Commitment of Medicine: in relation to the work of Alfred I. Tauber. MEDICA REVIEW. International Medical Humanities Review Revista Internacional De Humanidades Médicas, 1(1). https://doi.org/10.37467/gka-revmedica.v1.1287

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2012)

Section

Research articles

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