This volume presents a modest challenge, sometimes direct, sometimes implicit, to the mainstream Anglo-American conception of the discipline of medical ethics. It does so not by attempting to fill in the gaps with minority themes, but by re-examining some of the fundamental assumptions of well-known philosophical arguments and some of the basic situations that generate problems. The most important such situation is the encounter between doctor and sick patient, which is one of the themes of the book. The authors show that concepts such as the body, suffering and consent - and the role these concepts play in the lives of patients - are much more complex than the Anglo-American mainstream appreciates. Some of these concepts have been subtly discussed by continental philosophers (such as Heidegger, Ricoeur), and a secondary aim of the volume is to apply their ideas to medical ethics. Reconceiving Medical Ethics opens up new avenues of discussion in this ever-evolving field.
