The Place of Solidarity in Public Health Ethics

It is hypothesised and argued that "the four principles of medical ethics" can explain and justify, alone or in combination, all the substantive and universalisable claims of medical ethics and probably of ethics more generally. A request is renewed for falsification of this hypothesis showing reason to reject any one of the principles or to require any additional principle(s) that can't be explained by one or some combination of the four principles. This approach is argued to be compatible with a wide variety of moral theories that are often themselves mutually incompatible. It affords a way forward in the context of intercultural ethics, that treads the delicate path between moral relativism and moral imperialism. Reasons are given for regarding the principle of respect for autonomy as "first among equals", not least because it is a necessary component of aspects of the other three. A plea is made for bioethicists to celebrate the approach as a basis for global moral ecumenism rather than mistakenly perceiving and denigrating it as an attempt at global moral imperialism. Show more

Public health ethics is a discipline concerned with the health of the public or a population as a whole, rather than focusing on the individual. This book introduces a number of this new field's central concepts and explores the key and controversial issues arising. Topics covered include the nature of public health ethics, the concepts of disease and prevention, risk and precaution, health inequalities and justice, screening, vaccination and disease control, smoking and issues relating to the environment and public health. With insightful contributions from leading experts, Public Health Ethics presents thought-provoking reviews of these topics, at the same time as encouraging and identifying areas for future discussion in this emerging discipline. This is a valuable addition to the library of anyone working in the fields of public health, health policy, ethics, philosophy and social science. Show more