Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine

Minor Subject 107 in Part II Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS)

Paper manager: Stephen John

Overview

Lectures are held in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science.

Michaelmas Term

  • Ethics and Politics of Science and Medicine
    Stephen John (8)
    Mon 4pm (weeks 1–8)
  • Philosophy of the Biomedical Sciences: Concepts and Evidence
    Stephen John (4)
    Tue 4pm (weeks 1–4)
  • Philosophy of Environmental Science
    Harriet Fagerberg (4)
    Tue 4pm (weeks 5–8)

Lent Term

  • Ethical Issues in Mental Health
    Sebastian Rodriguez Duque (4)
    Mon 4pm (weeks 5–8)
  • Philosophy of Cognitive Science and Psychiatry
    Matt Farr (4)
    Tue 4pm (weeks 5–8)

Introduction

Do we have a human right to health? What is it to be healthy anyway, and can good health be measured? How can we know that smoking causes lung cancer, rather than that they are merely correlated? Is it ethical to experiment on humans to gain that knowledge? Is the foetus a person, and does this affect the morality of abortion? How should we decide between funding basic science and applied studies? Medical practice raises significant philosophical, ethical and political questions. This course studies these questions and shows how different answers may influence practice.

Aims and learning outcomes

  • to introduce students to core issues in the ethics of medical practice and the politics of health policy;
  • to provide students with conceptual tools for understanding the ethics and politics of medicine more generally;
  • to introduce students to core debates over the epistemology and metaphysics of biomedical and health-related research and practice;
  • to provide students with resources for thinking through emerging paradigms in medical research;
  • to help students to understand how 'ethical' and 'scientific' concerns inter-relate in core areas of medical research, such as the measurement of health or the value-ladenness of inference;
  • to enable students to take on roles as engaged citizens and practitioners.

Lectures

Ethics and Politics of Science and Medicine

Stephen John (8 lectures, Michaelmas Term)

This course considers two important sets of questions. We start by looking at some of the central questions of bio-medical ethics, focusing on different issues from different stages of the life-course: ranging from whether you should be vaccinated, to whether you should be allowed to get drunk, to when you should have children, and, finally, whether you should be allowed to choose how you die. Through this approach, we show how our individual choices are wrapped inside larger social and political structures. We then turn from thinking about ethical issues raised by medical technologies to consider the broader question of how ethical and social values do and should shape science. Many philosophers now hold that science is ineliminably laden with ethical, political or other 'non-epistemic' values. Does that imply that science isn't objective and, if so, what does that imply for the place of science in society, or should we change our view of what counts as objective?

Philosophy of the Biomedical Sciences: Concepts and Evidence

Stephen John (4 lectures, Michaelmas Term)

Medicine is among our most important institutions. Though its aim is practical, medicine is shot through with conceptual commitments and theoretical assumptions, its basic tools rely on causal hypotheses supported to varying degrees by inductive inferences, and medical research is developed in a complex political and economic nexus. Thus medicine is a prime subject for philosophical analysis. This four-week sequence of lectures will examine conceptual, normative, epistemological, methodological, metaphysical and political questions underlying medicine and medical science.

Philosophy of Environmental Science

Harriet Fagerberg (4 lectures, Michaelmas Term)

This course considers topics in the philosophy of ecology and the intersection between psychology, mental health and climate change. Topics covered include the nature of ecosystems, whether and to what extent ecosystems can be considered 'healthy', and the significance of our human psychologies and emotions to taking action on climate change.

Ethical Issues in Mental Health

Sebastian Rodriguez Duque (4 lectures, Lent Term)

Asking what mental health is and how we should care for it highlights a host of joint ethical and epistemic issues. This course explores the ethical implications of different conceptions of mental health and related implications for what ought to count as mental health care. We will explore emerging debates about the use of AI in mental health care, for example in the use of chatbots to replace or supplement human therapists. We will also explore the emergence of different trends, such as measurement-based care in mental health, and the value-based trade-offs that must be made in health systems trying to use measurement both to deliver care and collect evaluation data. Finally, we will consider issues around diagnosis, self-diagnosis, and over-diagnosis, and the 'life' of mental health and psychiatric terms in social media and online.

Philosophy of Cognitive Science and Psychiatry

Matt Farr (4 lectures, Lent Term)

These lectures survey philosophical problems in the foundations of the cognitive sciences and psychiatry. What is the relation between the mind and body? Should we ascribe mental states to non-human animals or machines, and on what basis? What is the relationship between physical and mental illness? Is there such a thing as a 'normal mind'? And how does society influence concepts of mental disorder? We look at how the disparate fields of philosophy of mind, psychology, cognitive science and psychiatry relate.

Preliminary reading