The Value of Life

First published in 1985. Medical ethics is a vitally important subject and currently a highly controversial one. Recent cases have highlighted both the intellectual and moral challenges posed by the dilemmas of modern medicine and their significance for us all. John Harris fives a fully up-to-date survey of the issues in this crucial field of applied ethics, including in vitro fertilisation and experimentation on human embryos.

John Harris is Professor of Applied Philosophy at the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, University of Manchester.

Introduction 1 Beings, human beings and persons 2 Above all do no harm 3 Must doctors help their patients? 4 Killing: A caring thing to do? 5 The value of life 6 The beginnings of life 7 Whose body is it anyway? 8 A woman's right to choose 9 Sexual morality and the natural 10 Respect for persons I 11 Respect for persons II 12 Death is abolished