Historical and philosophical reflections on patient autonomy.
Contemporary American medical ethics was born during a period of social ferment, a key theme of which was the espousal of individual rights. Driven by complex cultural forces united in the effort to protect individuality and self-determined choices, an extrapolation from case law to rights of patients was accomplished under the philosophical auspices of 'autonomy.' Autonomy has a complex history; arising in the modern period as the idea of self-governance, it received its most ambitious philosophical elaboration in Kant's moral philosophy. In examining the Kantian construction, it is evident that neither his universal moral imperative nor his rigorous application of self-legislated ethical action can sustain our own notions of moral agency in a pragmatic, pluralistic society. But the Kantian position is useful in highlighting that self-governance is not equivalent to 'autonomy,' and this distinction defines the limits of autonomy in the clinical setting. A critique of Engelhardt's idea of 'principle of permission' is used to illustrate autonomy's eclipse as a governing principle for medical ethics.
Tauber
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AI
Center for Philosophy and History of Science, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 506, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA. ait@bu.edu
D026688:Bioethical Issues; D004992:Ethics, Medical / Q000266:history*; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000266:history*; D028701:Patient Rights / Q000266:history*; D026684:Personal Autonomy