Ethics, rights and death in modern medicine

Modern medicine arises in a network of historical processes and events between the 18th and the 19th century. Since then medical thought and medical practice have come to play a fundamental role to the ways in which we live our lives, how we define ourselves and how we shape the society, which we inhabit. On this background the development of medicine has come to present a series of problems that cannot be solved by medicine itself. Some of these are philosophical problems about how we are to understand and deal with medical knowledge, techniques and institutions and the place and function that they have or ought to have in modern society and existence.

The present book reflects a growing interest in such problems amongst health care professionals and students. It consists of articles written by philosophers, theologians, doctors and historians.