On the value-ladenness of technology in medicine.
The objective of this article is to analyse the value-ladenness of technology in the context of medicine. To address this issue several characteristics of technology are investigated: i). its interventive capacity, ii). its expansiveness and iii). its influence on the concept of disease, iv). its generalising character, v). its independence of the subjective experience of the patient. By this analysis I hope to unveil the double face of technology: Technology has a Janus-face in modern medicine, and the opposite of its factual face is evaluative.
Hofmann
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Center for Medical Ethics, University of Oslo, Box 1130, Blindern, 0318 Oslo, Norway. b.m.hofmann@medetikk.uio.no
D004989:Ethics; D006801:Humans; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science; D010684:Philosophy; D012945:Social Values