Abstract
Benefit and harm are canonical principles in bioethics. Providers must do no harm and act in the best interests of their patients. A fundamental principle of research ethics is that research is unethical if its harms outweigh its benefits. Applying these principles requires understanding the concepts of harm and benefit, whether and how they can be distinguished, whether they are asymmetrical (such as that preventing harm is more important than providing benefit), and how they are to be identified.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Beauchamp, T. (Winter 2013 Edition). The principle of beneficence in applied ethics. In: E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2013/entries/principle-beneficence/
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (1983). Principles of biomedical ethics (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Benatar, D. (2006). Better never to have been: The harm of coming into existence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carel, H., & Kidd, K. J. (2014). Epistemic injustice in healthcare: A philosophical analysis. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy: A, European Journal, 17(4), 529–540.
Feinberg, J. (1977). Harm and self-interest. In P. M. S. Hacker & J. Hax (Eds.), Law, morality, and society: Essays in honor of H.L.A. Hart (pp. 287–308). Oxford: Clarendon.
Feinberg, J. (1984). The moral limits of the criminal law: Harm to others. New York: Oxford University Press.
Fricker, M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. New York: Oxford University Press.
Grover, D. (1989). Posthumous harm. Philosophical Quarterly, 39(156), 334–353.
Harman, E. (2004). Can we harm and benefit in creating? Philosophical Perspectives, 18, 89–113.
Harman, E. (2009). Critical study. Noûs, 43(4), 776–785.
Klocksiem, J. (2012). A defense of the counterfactual comparative account of harming. American Philosophical Quarterly, 49(4), 285–300.
Norcross, A. (2005). Harming in context. Philosophical Studies, 123, 149–173.
Pellegrino, E., & Thomasma, D. (1988). For the patient’s good: The restoration of beneficence in health care. New York: Oxford University Press.
Shiffrin, S. (2012). Harm and its moral significance. Legal Theory, 18(3), 357–398.
World Medical Association. (1964). Declaration of Helsinki. Retrieved from http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/. Last accessed 6 May 2015.
Further Readings
Beauchamp, T. (Winter 2013 Edition). The principle of beneficence in applied ethics. In: E. N. Zalta (Ed.), The stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2013/entries/principle-beneficence/
Feinberg, J. (1977). Harm and self-interest. In P. M. S. Hacker & J. Hax (Eds.), Law, morality, and society: Essays in honor of H.L.A. Hart (pp. 287–308). Oxford: Clarendon.
Klocksiem, J. (2012). A defense of the counterfactual comparative account of harming. American Philosophical Quarterly, 49(4), 285–300.
Shiffrin, S. (2012). Harm and its moral significance. Legal Theory, 18(3), 357–398.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Francis, L. (2015). Benefit and Harm. In: ten Have, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_39-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05544-2_39-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05544-2
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities