Ethics in medicine + ALV
Reflection on medical intervention from an ethical perspective
Dr Jan Jans
UHD Humanities
A. "How Medicine Saved the Life of Ethics"
1. The exponential growth of medical capabilities ~ technology
- therapeutic interventions
- diagnostic knowledge // therapy?
2. The tension between 'can' and 'may': the demand for criteria
- spontaneous experience of dilemmas and paradoxes
- the societal demand for regulation by norms ('soft-law')
- the shadow of Buchenwald ...
3. Biomedical ethics as a 'response'
- ethics committees, centres and publications
- involvement of doctors, lawyers, philosophers and theologians
B. Sharpening the ethical perspective
4. Human action as pursuit and realisation of values
- observing and valuing: work-words
- the transition from fact to value: interpreting
- the anthropological context/sense-framework of values: involvement & participation
5. The uniqueness of ethical interest: motive as well as criterion
- ethics as an aspect alongside other aspects? ['ethics or eat-me']
- ethics as the value component in every action
- ethical contrast experience: conflicts of values and/or unvalues
- rank and proportion versus enthusiastic shortsightedness?
C. Ethics in medicine
6. Health care as interest: the value-context of medical knowledge & skill
- assistance in the fight against disease, physical infirmity and untimely death
- motive and criterion: because and insofar as
- the self-evidence of medical ethics
7. Choices in care - tension between possible & desirable ?
- "the sky is the limit" / "can anything be done?" ~ interchanging part and whole
- the contrast experience of pointless medical / medically pointless action
List of literature belonging to the lecture of 11-05-2011 in Utrecht by Dr J.M.N.E. Jans entitled: Medical Ethics.
-jan Hendrik van den Berg, Medical power and medical ethics, Nijkerk: Callenbach, 1969
- Paul Sporken, Preliminary diagnosis. Introduction to medical ethics, Bilthoven: Ambo 1969
- Marc Berg and Annemarie Mol (ed.), Built-in norms. Medical techniques scrutinised, Utrecht: Van der Wees, 2001
- Peter-Paul Verbeek, De grens van de mens. On technology, ethics and human nature, Rotterdam: Lemniscaat 2011
Description
The first part of this lecture is a concise historical introduction to contextualise contemporary value questions in medicine partly from their connection with technological developments. The second part focuses on the uniqueness of the ethical perspective through an analysis of the shared human interest in values. The third part shows how ethics and medicine meet from within thanks to the ever-present value context of medical knowledge & expertise. It concludes that only ethics in medicine and thus partly of and by practitioners is worthwhile.
Prior to the lecture, the General Membership Meeting of the Philosophy & Engineering Section will be held from 5pm. You should sign up for this at least a week in advance due to the sandwich meal offered by the board exclusively to members participating in the ALV
Speaker(s)
Dr Jan Jans, born in Mechelen in 1954, completed his academic studies at the Catholic University of Leuven, Faculty of Theology. Diplomas of licentiate in religious studies and aggregate for higher secondary education (1982 - magna cum laude), licentiate in divinity (1984 - magna cum laude) and doctor of divinity (1990 - summa cum laude).
Since 1991 university lecturer in moral theology and ethics at Tilburg University and promoted to associate professor with effect from 1 January 2009. From 1993 to mid-2007 lecturer in moral theology at the Priest and Deacon School Bovendonk. From 1994 to 2003 Visiting Professor at the Summerschool of The American College in Leuven and since 2001/2002 Visiting Professor at St Augustine College of South Africa (Johannesburg). Since 1 January 2006 director of the Centre for Intercultural Ethics at Tilburg University.
Location
Utrecht
Organiser
Philosophy & Technology
Name and contact details for information
Further information from drs.ing. Henk Uijttenhout (vz), tel: 070 - 3875293 / 06 - 26715554 or via the e-mail address below