Goals of medicine
pp. 121-128
in: Thomas Schramme, Steven D. Edwards (eds), Handbook of the philosophy of medicine, Berlin, Springer, 2017Abstract
This chapter discusses different philosophical theories regarding the goals of medicine and places this debate within the context of the moral limits of the proper use of medical means. Two approaches are distinguished: first, a teleological approach, which sees medicine as a practice with an inherent telos and second, a consensual approach, which aims at assembling a list of goals of medicine that are identified in a deliberative process. This chapter also discusses the concept of medicine and scrutinizes whether it has any bearing on the debate regarding the goals of medicine. It is argued that the goals of medicine are still contested and will probably remain so. They cannot be used in a direct way to solve normative questions regarding the proper use of medicine.