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Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine pp 395–407Cite as

Extending Human Life as an Aim of Medicine

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Abstract

This chapter considers whether life extension per se can be an aim of medicine. It first provides an initial tentative analysis of what it means for something to be an aim or goal of medicine in general and whether there are any normative restrictions on what can be an aim or goal of medicine. It then applies this analysis to moderate and radical life extension. It is concluded that moderate life extension has many affinities with other aims and goals that are accepted as uncontroversial goals of medicine and that there are no conclusive arguments showing that it falls outside the scope of proper medicine. It is further concluded that radical life extension falls outside the current scope of medicine and that medicine as a normative practice would have to be significantly reconfigured if radical life extension is to become an aim of medicine.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK

    Søren Holm

  2. Center for Medical Ethics, HELSAM, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Søren Holm

  3. Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Søren Holm

Authors
  1. Søren Holm
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Correspondence to Søren Holm .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Thomas Schramme

  2. Philosophy, History and Law, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom

    Steven Edwards

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© 2017 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Holm, S. (2017). Extending Human Life as an Aim of Medicine. In: Schramme, T., Edwards, S. (eds) Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8688-1_18

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