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What is philosophy all about? In a nutshell, philosophy is about critically and reflectively examining our basic assumptions about life. Nursing is often guided by various philosophies concerning the meaning of health and well-being, for example. At the same time, philosophy provides a kind of magnifying glass through which we can examine and reflect on current health care practices.
In this course, we investigate how philosophers (from as far back as 2000 years ago to the present-day) help us to think about questions concerning life, happiness, health and care, for example. We also study how their findings have an important ethical influence on health care today. The module will take the following format:
- In the first part of the course, we will explore how philosophers critically question and examine people’s deep-seated assumptions about the meaning of life.
- In the seminars we will supplement this exploration by looking at Viktor Frankl’s descriptive account of his search for meaning
within the context of the holocaust.
Finally, in the second part of the course, we will explore some ethical questions that arise in health care practices from philosophical thinking and
questioning. We will use various case studies to assist us in our investigation.
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Essential:
Frankl, V. E. 1974. Man’s search for meaning. London: Hodder & Stoughton. (or any other edition)
Klemke, E. D. 2000. The meaning of life. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Shand, J. (ed.). 2005. The central works of philosophy, volumes 1-5. Acumen.
Supplementary Philosophy Texts:
Baggini, J. 2002. The philosopher’s toolkit: a compendium. Oxford: Blackwell.
Baggini, J. 2005. What’s it all about? Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell.
Collison, D. and Plant, K. 2006. Fifty major philosophers. London: Routledge.
Craig, E. 2005. The shorter Routledge encyclopaedia of philosophy. London: Routledge.
Cutler, H. M. 2004. Ethical argument: critical thinking in ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.
Copleston, F. 1963. A history of philosophy. London: Burns Oates & Wasburne.
Kushner, H. 2002. When bad things happen to good people. Pan.
Law, S. 2004. The philosophy gym: 25 short adventures in thinking. Headline Book Publishing.
Magee, B. 2001. The story of philosophy. London: Dorling Kindersley Book.
Martinich, A. P. 2005. Philosophical writing: an introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.
Nagel, T. 1987. What does it all mean? A very short introduction to philosophy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Reed, J. and Ground, I. 1996. Philosophy for nurses. London: Edward Arnold.
Portmann, J. 2000. When bad things happen to other people. London: Routledge.
Solomon, R. C. 1981. Introducing the existentialists. Indianapolis: Hackett.
Thomasma, D. C. (ed.) 2001. Personhood and health care. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Tolstoy, I. 2005. A confession. Dover.
Fry, S. T., & Veatch, R. M. 2000. Case studies in nursing ethics. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Vaughn, L. 2006. Writing philosophy: a student’s guide to writing philosophy essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wall, T. F. 2002. Thinking critically about moral problems. Wadsworth.
In class we will look at selected texts from the following works:
Aristotle. 2000. Nicomachean ethics. R. Crisp (trans.). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Camus, A. 1960. The plague. S. Gilbert (trans.). London: Hamish Hamilton.
Hume, D. 1992. Treatise of human nature. New York: Prometheus Books.
Kant, I. 1993. Critique of pure reason. N. K. Smith (trans.). London: Macmillan.
Kierkegaard, S. 1985. The concept of anxiety. R. L. Perkins (ed.). Macon: Mercer University Press.
Lonergan, B. J. F. 1985. A third collection. New York: Paulist Press.
Nietzsche, F. 1990. Beyond good and evil: prelude to a philosophy of the future. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Plato. 2000. The Republic. G. R. F. Ferrari (ed.). T. Griffith (trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sartre, J.-P. 1993. Being and nothingness. New York: Washington Square Press.
Wittgenstein, L. 1953. Philosophical investigations. G. E. M. Anscombe (trans.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Supplementary Texts on Viktor Frankl and Nazi Germany:
Burleigh, M. 2001. The Third Reich: a new history. Hill & Wang.
Lifton, R. J. 2000. The Nazi doctors: medical killing and the psychology of genocide. New York: Basic Books.
McFarland-Icke, B. R. 2000. Nurses in Nazi Germany: moral choice in history. Princeton University Press
Burleigh, M. 2001. Death and deliverance. Pan.
Spitz, V. 2005. Doctors from Hell: the horrific account of Nazi experiments on humans. Sentient Publications
Michalczyk, J. J. (ed.) 1994. Medicine, ethics and the Third Reich: historical and contemporary issues. Sheed & Ward.
Weindling, P. J. 2004. Nazi medicine and the Nuremberg Trials: from medical warcrimes to informed consent. Palgrave Macmillan.
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