Ethics in Health Care: Theological and Philosophical Perspectives

3 credits · Divinity School

This course examines a broad range of theological and philosophical methods for dealing with ethical questions as they arise in contemporary American healthcare. We will read influential texts from Protestant and Catholic Christianity, Jewish thought, contemporary Anglo-American philosophy, as well as classic texts from the virtue traditions. Our aim is to apply the teachings of these texts to a range of practical issues, including issues at the beginning and end of life, questions that arise in routine patient care, and major policy issues in health and health care. We will probe the dialectic between practice and theory, being attentive to their reciprocal influences. A major aim of the seminar is to gain critical purchase on the tools that various theological and philosophical traditions provide as guides to thinking and action, and to assess their uses and limits. A second major agenda is to become more critically aware of our own moral intuitions and assumptions. [3]