About the course
Medicine is constantly in the headlines. The news raises deep issues about how medicine should be practised and challenging questions about how we got where we are today. Medical ethics and history of medicine are the academic disciplines that address these issues and answer these questions. The two subjects combine to yield a rounded picture of the status and significance of medicine.
This 24-lecture course is offered as a minor subject within Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) Part II. These pages contain essential information about its organisation and assessment.
Syllabus
The History and Ethics of Medicine (HEM) course comprises 12 lectures on the history of medicine and 12 lectures on medical ethics. The history of medicine lectures cover the early modern (Karin Ekholm) and the modern period (Vanessa Heggie), and explore both the understanding of disease and the practice of medicine and biology over the course of several centuries. The lectures on medical ethics cover issues at the beginning and end of life, the ethics of new reproductive technologies, and the political philosophy of healthcare (Stephen John and Tim Lewens).
Full details of the of the lectures are given on the timetable.
History and Ethics of Medicine timetable
Supervisions
We recommend that you seek 4–6 supervisions on this course – ideally three for history of medicine and three for medical ethics. Names of recommended supervisors will be given out by the lecturers during the course.
Most students taking this course will not have written discursive, humanities-style essays for some time. Do not be nervous – the supervisors will help you master this skill – but do seek the recommended number of supervisions.
Libraries
The Whipple Library – the HPS departmental library – has an excellent collection of literature in both medical ethics and the history of medicine. You will need to use it regularly. College libraries should have some of the introductory texts. Please recommend that they acquire the others and as many of the other key readings as they can afford. There are also good collections of medical ethics materials at the Squire Law Library and the Casimir Lewy Library (Philosophy).
Plagiarism
The University, and this department, take plagiarism very seriously. Please read our advice about what plagiarism is and how to avoid it.
The HPS Department
As a HEM student, you should feel at home in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. Feel free to use the Department's coffee room. You may also wish to attend HPS Part II lectures on the history of medicine, medical ethics, environmental ethics and other related subjects. For details see the Part II timetable, especially the pages for Papers 2, 5, 7 and 10.
Feedback
There are three main routes for students to give feedback on the course. First, a HEM student representative will be appointed, who will sit on the HPS Department's monitoring committee. Second, feedback questionnaires will be distributed in Lent Term. Finally, you can discuss any specific issues with the course organiser.
Further information
For general information about the course, including assessment and course structure, contact the course organiser, Vanessa Heggie. Dr Heggie may also be contacted for queries relating specifically to history of medicine. For subject-specific queries relating to medical ethics, contact Stephen John (Michaelmas Term) or Tim Lewens (Lent & Easter Terms).
Students will be added to the HEM email list to receive email notices specific to this course. You may also want to join HPS Discussion to receive more general information and notices about the Department.
Recommended readings
Reading lists for specific elements of the course will be made available on the HPS HEM CamTools site. Lecture handouts and slides will also be put on this site, as will scans of some book chapters and journal articles. All students registered to take the HEM course will become members of this site.
Introductory readings for this course are listed on the History and Ethics of Medicine timetable.
Programme specification
This course is taught by the Department of History and Philosophy of Science and offered as a minor subject within Part II Biological and Biomedical Sciences.
Aims and learning outcomes
- To give students knowledge and understanding of some of the main themes in medical ethics and the history of medicine.
- To acquaint students with fundamental issues in the historiography of medicine.
- To acquaint students with the general tools of ethical analysis, and to apply these tools to specific cases in modern medicine.
- To help students to develop the skills with which to think historically and to analyse and criticise ethical arguments.
- To familiarise students with some of the most common ethical arguments directed towards various practices, institutions and technologies in medical settings.
- To provide students with an understanding of the principal changes that created the medical and biomedical institutions, professions and practices of the modern world.
Teaching and learning methods
These include lectures, supervisions and assigned reading.
Assessment
Assessment for this course is through:
- one unseen written examination.
Courses of preparation
Essential: None
Recommended: None