Medicine Philosophy

This introduction to the philosophy of medicine surveys the landscape of western philosophy as it pertains to healthcare in an accessible way. Written by a doctor for doctors and other health professionals, framing the "toolbox" of philosophy within the community of medicine, it encourages examination of the implicit assumptions made in the construction of medical knowledge and practice.

In the face of continuing advances in medical research and treatment, bioethical questions remain at the heart of many of our society’s difficult moral problems. Since its original publication in 1996, Gilbert Meilaender’s Bioethics has proven itself an effective introduction into this arena, providing thoughtful guidance on today’s most relevant issues, including abortion, assisted reproduction, genetic research, euthanasia, human experimentation, and much more.

Ignác Semmelweis is remembered for the now-commonplace notion that doctors must wash their hands before examining patients. In mid-19th century Vienna, however, this was a subversive idea. With deaths from childbed fever exploding, Semmelweis discovered that doctors themselves were spreading the disease. While his simple reforms worked immediately - childbed fever in Vienna all but disappeared - they brought down upon Semmelweis the wrath of the establishment, and led to his tragic end.

Dr. Weil’s groundbreaking handbook for people who want to take control of their lives and their health presents the full spectrum of alternative healing practices, including holistic medicine, homeopathy, osteopathy, chiropractic, and Chinese medicine, and outlines how they differ from conventional approaches. The philosophical basis for his work in integrative medicine and optimum health. Health and Healing draws on Weil’s own vast clinical and personal experience.

Among primers on meditation, this audiobook is exceptional in how it guides listeners who treasure inner growth and are looking for reliable direction on how to achieve it in an authentic and sustainable way. The author, a student of the Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda, distills the teachings of many other spiritual traditions and religions, including Christianity, into an interfaith perspective that will appeal to all seekers of the divine.

The West has taken to meditation with great enthusiasm. We contemplate. We concentrate. We embrace mindfulness techniques and a multitude of mantras. We have undertaken to “do” meditation. The Aspects of Meditation series is comprised of brief, precious texts in which Osho shows us the core of meditation is not about sitting silently or chanting a mantra. It is, instead, a question of understanding the subtle workings of the mind. In Book 2, Osho explores the purpose of meditation: to discover the self.

For the sake of time, I won't go into more detail and bore you. Instead, I will tell you that practicing stoicism is like sharpening a blade, and you have to make sure it never gets dull. Learning the basic guidelines for a person practicing stoicism can help make redirecting their emotions easier. However, there are no original stoic texts for us to follow; instead, you will be learning through interpretations from philosophers.

The Mindfulness of Breathing meditation has been practised in the Buddhist tradition for 2,500 years. It is now widely used not just among Buddhists but increasingly in the secular world as the basis of mindfulness training, and in other contexts such as yoga and, in recent times, stress and pain management. After all, as the author and teacher Vessantara observes: ‘The breath is always with us, necessary to our very existence, though it is often goes unnoticed. Yet giving it attention can transform our lives.' In The Breath, Vessantara, who has been meditating on the breath for over 40 years, writes engagingly for both newcomers and those with some experience.

When a meditation teacher has few students, he or she can provide one-on-one instruction. However, with the advent of hundreds or thousands of pupils, it is impractical if not impossible to provide the same level of attention. In movements such as the Radhasoami tradition where there are hundreds of thousands (and sometimes millions) of adherents, the designated master can only spend very limited time with the vast majority of his or her disciples.

In 2018, the first genetically modified babies were reportedly born in China, made possible by the invention of CRISPR technology in 2012. This controversial advancement overturned the preexisting moral consensus, which had held for over 50 years before: While gene editing an adult person was morally acceptable, modifying babies, and thus subsequent generations, crossed a significant moral line. John H. Evans here provides a meta-level guide to how these debates move forward and their significance to society.

Medicine for the Heart is a guide to the extraordinary richness of Scripture seen through Kierkegaard's eyes. He wrote about Scripture as none other, a literature of surpassing artistry and rare moral power. Kierkegaard described a new believer who discovered that life was beautiful, that it was a new gloriousness of faith that no human being can give to another, but that every human being has what is highest, noblest, and most sacred in humankind. It is original in him, and every human being has it if he wants to have it.

What is embryonic stem cell research? Why is it so controversial? What is its relationship to human cloning? Events are moving so fast and biotechnology seems so complicated that many of us don't have an informed opinion about issues that are remaking the human future before our very eyes.

“L’essere umano è una malattia. Le malattie lo colpiscono, ma l’uomo in quanto tale è a sua voltauna malattia. Quello è il suo problema, ed è anche la sua unicità; quella è la sua buona sorte, ma al tempo stesso è la sua sfortuna. Nessun altro animale sulla Terra ha un problema simile, nessuno deve confrontarsi con una simile ansia, con quella tensione, con quel disagio, con un simile stato patologico; cosa che invece l’essere umano deve fare”. Osho

Die weltweit bekannte Meditationslehrerin Tara Brach vereint in diesem Ratgeber zur Persönlichkeitsentwicklung Weisheitsgeschichten aus dem Buddhismus, selbst Erlebtes und alltagstaugliche Meditationen. Das "Gold" in uns ist das, was der Buddha unsere "innere Gutheit" genannt hat. Es ist das, was in uns wahr, liebend, schön und frei ist - in jeder und jedem von uns. Auch wenn Ärger, Wut oder Angst dieses pure Sein manchmal verbergen, können wir uns jederzeit wieder mit ihm verbinden. Das Vertrauen in diese "Gutheit" ist das eigentliche "Selbst-Vertrauen".

Long before the U.S. government began conducting secret radiation and germ-warfare experiments, and long before the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, medical professionals had introduced—and hotly debated the ethics of—the use of human subjects in medical experiments. In Subjected to Science, Susan Lederer provides the first full-length history of biomedical research with human subjects in the earlier period, from 1890 to 1940.

In today's hectic times, it's more important than ever to learn to slow down, relax, and be calm.Whether part of religious habit or just part of a daily routine, meditation can help slow today's frenzied pace and improve feelings of good health, peace, and control. In The Complete Idiot's Guide to Meditation, Joan Budilovsky and Eve Adamson explain how easy it is to enjoy the benefits of meditation, including simple stress-reduction techniques that make learning to meditate easier.

We have entered what is called the "biological century" and a new biopolitics has emerged to address the implications for America's collective value system, our well-being, and ultimately, our future. The Body Politic is the first book to recognize and assess this new force in our political landscape - one that fuels today's culture wars and has motivated politicians of all stripes to reexamine their platforms.

The Tragedy of American Science explores how the US economy’s addiction to military spending distorts and deforms science by making it overwhelmingly subservient to military interests. The primary motive driving American science and technology has become the search for new and more efficient ways to kill people. This transforms science from the classic ideal of a creative force for the advancement of humankind into its destructive and antihuman opposite.

When Joselin Linder was in her 20s, her legs started to swell. She thought little of it until her health problems started to compound in ways that baffled her doctors. Diagnosed with extreme liver blockage and dangerous levels of lymph fluid, Joselin turned to the most similar case she could think of - her father's.

One hundred years after a milestone medical discovery, Insulin: The Crooked Timber tells the story of how insulin was transformed from what one clinician called "thick brown muck" into the very first drug to be produced using genetic engineering, one which would earn the founders of the US biotech company Genentech a small fortune. Taking the listener on a fascinating journey, starting with the discovery of insulin in the 1920s through to the present day, the book reveals a story of monstrous egos, toxic career rivalries, and a few unsung heroes.