Pluralistic Casuistry [electronic resource] : Moral Arguments, Economic Realities, and Political Theory / edited by Mark J. Cherry, Ana Smith Iltis.

Moral Casuistry, Medical Research and Innovation, and Rabbinical Decision-Making -- Moral Casuistry, Medical Research, and Innovation, and Rabbinical Decision-Making -- Pluralistic Moral Casuistry -- Notes Toward a Pluralistic Professional Medical Ethics -- Ethics and Deep Moral Ambiguity -- Moral Judgment and the Ideal Intuitor: Dealing with Moral Confusion and Moral Disagreement -- Casuistry Naturalized -- Jewish Medical Ethics -- Intuitionism, Divine Commands, and Natural Law -- In Case: Contingency and Particularity in Bioethics -- The Euthyphro's Dilemma Reconsidered: A Variation on a Theme from Brody on Halakhic Method -- Biomedical Public Policy -- The Good (Philosophy), the Bad (Public Policy) and the Ugliness of Blaming Families for Ineffectual Treatments -- A Matter of Obligation: Physicians Versus Clinical Investigators -- Is Withholding Artificial Nutrition and Hydration from PVS Patients Active Euthanasia? -- Critical Application And Analysis -- The Virtue of Integrity in Baruch Brody's Moral Framework -- Paradigms, Practices and Politics: Ethics and the Language of Human Embryo Transfer/Donation/Rescue/Adoption -- Brody on Passive and Active Euthanasia -- Response To Friends And Criticisms -- Comments on the Essays.

Baruch A. Brody has been one of the most important voices in bioethics over the last several decades, asking new and challenging questions about a range of problems, examining recalcitrant issues in novel ways, always with the goal of offering practical solutions to complex problems. This volume presents a sustained philosophical analysis of Brody's contributions to biomedical ethics. The essays in this volume compass epistemological, methodological, and topical contributions to bioethics, including both application and criticism of Brody's normative moral theory - pluralistic casuistry - Jewish medical ethics, human embryo transfer, medical futility, life and death decisions in pediatrics, euthanasia and end-of-life decision-making, the obligations of clinical researchers toward study participants, and professional integrity. Done well, philosophical work can clarify complex issues, facilitate creative problem solving, and lead to real-world solutions to difficult situations. Each contributor carefully and critically explores Brody's writings in biomedical ethics and the philosophy of medicine, illustrating his appreciation that thorough and critical scientific research and philosophical analysis are central to reining in the untutored human desire to ameliorate pain and suffering so that medical treatments and health care policy do more good than harm.