{"id":13024,"date":"2017-10-14T22:50:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-15T05:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024"},"modified":"2023-02-02T15:12:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T23:12:00","slug":"on-the-philosophical-foundations-of-medical-ethics-aristotle-kant-js-mill-and-rawls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024","title":{"rendered":"On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Raphael Cohen-Almagor<\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"173\" height=\"230\" src=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ethicsmedpubhealth.jpg\" alt=\"Ethics, Medicine &amp; Public Health\" class=\"wp-image-15840\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ethics, Medicine &#038; Public Health<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><br>This article aims to trace back some of the theoretical foundations of medical ethics that stem from the philosophies of Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill and John Rawls. The four philosophers had in mind rational and autonomous human beings who are able to decide their destiny, who pave for themselves the path for their own happiness. It is argued that their philosophies have influenced the field of medical ethics as they crafted some very important principles of the field. I discuss the concept of autonomy according to Kant and JS Mill, Kant&#8217;s concepts of dignity, benevolence and beneficence, Mill&#8217;s Harm Principle (nonmaleficence), the concept of justice according to Aristotle, Mill and Rawls, and Aristotle&#8217;s concept of responsibility..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Cohen-Almagor R. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S2352552517301706\">On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls<\/a>. Ethics Med Pub Health. 2017;3(4):436-444. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Raphael Cohen-Almagor AbstractThis article aims to trace back some of the theoretical foundations of medical ethics that stem from the philosophies of Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill and John Rawls. The four philosophers had in mind rational and autonomous human beings who are able to decide their destiny, who pave for themselves the path &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[554,638,2,659],"tags":[1761,1130,1127,1353,1759],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-13024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-history","category-journal-article","category-philosophy","tag-aristotle","tag-immanuel-kant","tag-john-rawls","tag-john-stuart-mill","tag-raphael-cohen-almagor"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls - Protection of Conscience Project Library<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Traces theoretical foundations of medical ethics stemming from philosophies of Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill &amp; John Rawls.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls - Protection of Conscience Project Library\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Traces theoretical foundations of medical ethics stemming from philosophies of Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill &amp; John Rawls.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Protection of Conscience Project Library\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-15T05:50:00+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-02T23:12:00+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ethicsmedpubhealthog.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Project Administrator\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ethicsmedpubhealthog.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@consciencpro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@consciencpro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Project Administrator\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Project Administrator\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098\"},\"headline\":\"On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-15T05:50:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-02T23:12:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024\"},\"wordCount\":161,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/ethicsmedpubhealth.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Aristotle\",\"Immanuel Kant\",\"John Rawls\",\"John Stuart Mill\",\"Raphael Cohen-Almagor\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ethics\",\"History\",\"Journal Articles\",\"Philosophy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024\",\"name\":\"On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls - Protection of Conscience Project Library\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/ethicsmedpubhealth.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-15T05:50:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-02T23:12:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Traces theoretical foundations of medical ethics stemming from philosophies of Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill & John Rawls.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/ethicsmedpubhealth.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/ethicsmedpubhealth.jpg\",\"width\":173,\"height\":230,\"caption\":\"Ethics, Medicine & Public Health\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=13024#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Protection of Conscience Project Library\",\"description\":\"Service, not Servitude\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Protecton of Conscience Project\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/projectlogo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/projectlogo.jpg\",\"width\":1123,\"height\":1376,\"caption\":\"Protecton of Conscience Project\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/consciencepro\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/consciencpro\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098\",\"name\":\"Project Administrator\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Project Administrator\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.consciencelaws.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls - Protection of Conscience Project Library","description":"Traces theoretical foundations of medical ethics stemming from philosophies of Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill & John Rawls.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls - Protection of Conscience Project Library","og_description":"Traces theoretical foundations of medical ethics stemming from philosophies of Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill & John Rawls.","og_url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024","og_site_name":"Protection of Conscience Project Library","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro","article_published_time":"2017-10-15T05:50:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-02T23:12:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":338,"url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ethicsmedpubhealthog.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Project Administrator","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ethicsmedpubhealthog.jpg","twitter_creator":"@consciencpro","twitter_site":"@consciencpro","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Project Administrator","Estimated reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024"},"author":{"name":"Project Administrator","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/person\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098"},"headline":"On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls","datePublished":"2017-10-15T05:50:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-02T23:12:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024"},"wordCount":161,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ethicsmedpubhealth.jpg","keywords":["Aristotle","Immanuel Kant","John Rawls","John Stuart Mill","Raphael Cohen-Almagor"],"articleSection":["Ethics","History","Journal Articles","Philosophy"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024","name":"On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls - Protection of Conscience Project Library","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ethicsmedpubhealth.jpg","datePublished":"2017-10-15T05:50:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-02T23:12:00+00:00","description":"Traces theoretical foundations of medical ethics stemming from philosophies of Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill & John Rawls.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ethicsmedpubhealth.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/ethicsmedpubhealth.jpg","width":173,"height":230,"caption":"Ethics, Medicine & Public Health"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=13024#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On the Philosophical Foundations of Medical Ethics: Aristotle, Kant, JS Mill and Rawls"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/","name":"Protection of Conscience Project Library","description":"Service, not Servitude","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization","name":"Protecton of Conscience Project","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/projectlogo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/projectlogo.jpg","width":1123,"height":1376,"caption":"Protecton of Conscience Project"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro","https:\/\/x.com\/consciencpro"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/person\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098","name":"Project Administrator","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Project Administrator"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.consciencelaws.org"],"url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13024"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15842,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13024\/revisions\/15842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13024"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=13024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}