Exploring the Meaning of Medicine: A Reflection Upon Three Key Examples

• Main Author: Stefánsdóttir, Ástríður
• Other Authors: Vilhjálmur Árnason, Sagnfræði- og heimspekideild (HÍ), Faculty of History and Philosophy (UI), Hugvísindasvið (HÍ), School of Humanities (UI), Háskóli Íslands, University of Iceland
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Iceland, School of Humanities, Faculty of History and Philosophy 2022
• Subjects: Doktorsritgerðir; Siðfræði; Læknisfræði; Staðgöngumæðrun; Offita; Fósturgreining; Iceland
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11815/3175

This thesis explores the meaning of medicine and considers ethical challenges that arise when medicine's limits are tested as it enters new grounds. The methodology and argumentation used in the thesis can be described as a two-step process. In the first part, the author investigates three ethical examples representing current controversies on the limits of medicine. This is done in three peer reviewed articles. In the second part the focus of the discussion is on common themes visible in all of the three articles. By paying special attention to these themes important elements of the papers are teased out and the argumentation for them strengthened. Through this reflection it is possible to gain a deeper understanding of what medicine is and ought to be. The three examples that are used to throw light upon medicine’s expansion are surrogacy, obesity, and fetal diagnosis. These examples were chosen mainly because they demonstrate this expansion and have all been in public debate in Iceland in the last decade. They have mainly been approached and discussed as medical issues. In three peer reviewed articles, these categorizations are questioned and the constructional forces in society are investigated to determine how they influence medicine's limits. The second part of the thesis is an ethical reflection upon the discussion of the three key examples in the articles. When this discussion is investigated further, four common themes appear that reveal how medicine has the potential to be oppressive, especially toward already stigmatized and marginalized patients. In the second part, the research question is, “When medicine enters new grounds, as described in the articles, it can deviate from its ends and inherent values. What characterizes this deviation and how can that knowledge be used to interpret the meaning of medicine?” The four themes that are common to the key examples in the articles show how medicine can deviate from its ends and inherent values. The first theme shows how the medical description of the ...