BIH514: Introduction to Applied Ethics and Medical Ethics

The module Introduction to Applied Ethics and Medical Ethics is compulsory and occupies a prominent position in the programme's content. Its aim is to familiarise students with one of the most rapidly emerging and developing interdisciplinary fields, within which extremely significant and novel questions are raised. These questions touch upon the everyday life of contemporary citizens around the world and require a complex approach, since they all depend on a variety of philosophical, ethical, legal, social and medical parameters. The module will highlight Applied Ethics as an important branch of Applied Philosophy, which is not only of concern to those who have pursued specialised philosophical studies, but on the contrary is directly relevant to all of society. The instructors' objective is to demonstrate the practical character of this field, its necessity in modern globalised societies and its contribution to the understanding and management of challenges that concern all citizens. Furthermore, the structure of the module aims at the cultivation of critical thinking and a variety of skills, as well as the improvement of professional performance and the enhancement of social awareness among public servants, physicians, nurses and other interested participants. As regards its content, critical issues of a conceptual and theoretical nature concerning the field of Applied Ethics and Medical Ethics, as a category of Applied Ethics, will be examined, and the relationship of both with so-called Theoretical Ethics will be highlighted. To this end, reference will be made to human dignity and to certain fundamental principles of medical ethics, which provide the broader framework for the exercise of the medical vocation. Burning questions will be critically discussed, such as that of informed consent and the correct medical model for physician-patient relations, as well as the concept of medical authority, which appears to be receding in our era. In addition, specific ethical questions relating to transplantations, abortions, euthanasia and eugenics will be analysed in detail, and newer trends in the management of terminal patients, such as the phenomenon of Palliative Care, will be discussed.