Medical knowledge as a social product

rights, risks, and responsibilities

Mark W. Wartofsky

pp. 113-130

in: William B. Bondeson, Tristram Engelhardt, Stuart Spicker, Joseph M. White Jr (eds), New knowledge in the biomedical sciences, Berlin, Springer, 1982

Abstract

Let me sketch the program of this paper at the outset. I will begin with some scene setting: a brief account of the crisis in medicine. Then I will pose a problem: the need for a theoretical model of medicine in terms of which to approach the crisis. I will go on to analyze the problem in terms of some of the fundamental concepts involved in the construction of the theoretical model — specifically, the nature of medical knowledge, and the rights, risks and responsibilities which are involved in its acquisition, possession, and use. Finally, I will suggest the direction of a resolution of the crisis, in terms of the theoretical model. In effect, I am offering a foray into some conceptual philosophical muddles which characterize the systematic thought concerning these questions.