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Systematic Analysis of Ethics of Care

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African Traditional Medicine: Autonomy and Informed Consent

Part of the book series: Advancing Global Bioethics ((AGBIO,volume 3))

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Abstract

In Chap. 2, a historical analysis of informed consent in Western bioethics was presented with a discussion of the liberal approach to informed consent which emphasizes individual and rights-oriented autonomy. In this Chapter, the discussion now considers a view opposing liberal individualistic rights-oriented autonomy in informed consent. It presents a systematic analysis of the ethics of care as a hermeneutic used to interpret African Traditional Medicine (ATM) and its practices. The chapter also explores the emphasis in the ethics of care movement on relationships that posit a concept of persons as relational beings who are socially interdependent, thereby interpreting patient autonomy in relationship with others. The analysis further considers the emphasis in ethics of care on relational autonomy as a foundation for enlightening the meaning of Relational Autonomy in Informed Consent (RAIC). And in turn ethics of care forms a hermeneutic to interpret ATM in the next chapter. However, to facilitate the analysis of ethics of care, this chapter has been divided into three sections. Section A traces and delineates the origin of ethics of care from the works and activities of feminist movements, some male ethicists, and the alternative feminist moral theories. Section B explores the meaning of ethics of care, identifying care as labor, practice, value, caring relations, and as justice. Section C considers the ethics of care concept of person, or human being, and autonomy in informed consent, noting the essence of both emotion and reason in moral decision-making, the place of rights and of relational autonomy arising from human relatedness, and the interdependent nature of human beings.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Ethics of care with its emphasis on relationships fits this context of relationships better than the liberal rights theory which is poorly equipped for such relationships.

  2. 2.

    This is traceable to Hume.

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  1. Center for Healthcare Ethics, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Peter Ikechukwu Osuji

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Ikechukwu Osuji, P. (2014). Systematic Analysis of Ethics of Care. In: African Traditional Medicine: Autonomy and Informed Consent. Advancing Global Bioethics, vol 3. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05891-7_3

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