PHIL 356 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Thought Experiment, Paternalism, Genetic Disorder
Document Summary
Paternalistic model of the doctor-patient relation: doctors should rely on their own judgment in determining how to treat their patients. They have no obligation to share the reasoning that supports this judgment, and are even obligated not to share this reasoning if they believe that this information will not benefit the patient. He looks for a criterion for a well-being. Some possible answers: hedonism: our lives are better insofar as we experience more pleasure/less pain. Desires that concern our life as a whole are called global desires . Desires for particular things are called local desires : objective list: our lives are better insofar as we satisfy certain conditions whose value doesn"t depend on what we want. Some of these irrelevant factors will be discussed in the next lecture. The job of the doctor is to contribute to the patient"s welfare including their health. Doctors are obligated to tell others of their results.
