Bioethics: An Anthology

by Helga Kuhse (Editor), Peter Singer (Editor)

This volume is a definitive, high-qualiity, one-volume collection of key primary texts for the study of bioethics. In its structure and content, the Anthology is intended to complement the Companion to Bioethics, edited by the same scholars.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science, Medicine, Biology, Anthologies

600 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Helga Kuhse is an Australian utilitarian philosopher and bioethicist. From the 1970s, she was one of the first philosophers to address the ethical implications of the developments in biotechnology and biomedicine. With Peter Singer, she founded the Centre for Human Bioethics at Monash University in 1980, one of the first research centres in the world devoted entirely to bioethics. She served as Director of the Centre until June 1999. Her ideas on the end of life, the right to die, and assisted death, have prompted controversy worldwide.

Kuhse is a prominent supporter of the legalisation of voluntary assisted euthanasia. Many people, including the former Chief Minister of the Northern Territory of Australia, Marshall Perron, credit Kuhse's work as the inspiration for the Rights of the Terminally Ill Act.[2] In 1996, Perron told a public forum that it was after reading one of Kuhse's papers that he was prompted to introduce the Rights of the Terminally Ill Bill into Parliament. The Act was the first piece of legislation anywhere in the world to legalise euthanasia. However, the Act was overturned by the Australian Federal Government in 1997.

Kuhse has served on a number of ethics committees, and has been an expert advisor to Australian parliaments considering euthanasia legislation. In 1987, she founded the international academic journal Bioethics with Peter Singer. The pair also founded the International Association of Bioethics. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow at Monash University.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Eshgin Rahimli · Rating 3 out of 5]

An introductory collection of researches and opinions on popular topics in bioethics and medical ethics, some writings were great, some were weakly-built arguments. Overall, if u want to learn more about this field, a good book on getting familiar with common reasonings and stances.

[Camilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only a casual perusal here, but found the essays I read limited, Cambridgian and full of mastubatory thought - experiments on QALY. I genuinely think I came up with better cases while at the gym.

Some merit goes to Tännsjö (1994) 'The Morality of Clinical Research : A case study', but even that was lukewarm at best. Bioethics deserves better than Singer and Co.

[Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to learn how the big kids argue around real life topics in science, this is the place to go.

[Izlinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a text for a class (biomedical ethics), we didn't finish the entirety of this book. The selections were mostly well-rounded for each topic and section. I only give it a four-star because I found it hard to comprehend as I have no background in philosophy/philosophical readings, but perhaps someone who has better grasp of it, or the companion book would better comprehend the sometimes convoluted essays inside.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was our primary reference for a junior level philosophy class in Biomedical Ethics at our university. We read maybe 25% of the text over the course of our class, so I haven’t read everything in the full anthology.

I really liked the papers and articles chosen in this anthology. It seemed to have a balance of different view points on numerous topics in Bioethics. From my perspective, it’s a fantastic anthology and reference that I hope to return to soon.

[John]

naturalism,nonfiction,science,enhancement

[Siddharth Doshi]

Good