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How Should We Respond to Non-Dominant Healing Practices, the Example of Homeopathy
AbstractThe debate around the ethics of homeopathy in recent issues of the journal has been approached as a binary question; is homeopathy ethical or not? This paper suggests that this is an unhelpful question and instead discusses a framework to establish the extent to which the dominant (medical) culture should tolerate non-dominant health practices such as homeopathy. This requires a sophisticated understanding of the placebo effect, a critical evaluation of what evidence is available, a consideration of the harm that the non-dominant practice might cause, and a consideration of how this might be affected by the culture...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - December 13, 2016 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research

A Not-So-Gentle Refutation of the Defence of Homeopathy
Abstract In a recent paper, Levy, Gadd, Kerridge, and Komesaroff attempt to defend the ethicality of homeopathy by attacking the utilitarian ethical framework as a basis for medical ethics and by introducing a distinction between evidence-based medicine and modern science. This paper demonstrates that their argumentation is not only insufficient to achieve that goal but also incorrect. Utilitarianism is not required to show that homeopathic practice is unethical; indeed, any normative basis of medical ethics will make it unethical, as a defence of homeopathic practice requires the rejection of modern natural scien...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - January 5, 2016 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research

A Strong Remedy to a Weak Ethical Defence of Homeopathy
Abstract In this article, I indicate and illustrate several flaws in a recent “ethical defence” of homeopathy. It transpires that the authors’ arguments have several features in common with homeopathic remedies, including strong claims, a lack of logic or evidence, and no actual effect.
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - December 10, 2015 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research

When Lack of Evidence Is Evidence of Lack
Abstract In their recent article “A Gentle Ethical Defence of Homeopathy,” Levy, Gadd, Kerridge, and Komesaroff use the claim that “lack of evidence is not equivalent to evidence of lack” as a component of their ethical defence of homeopathy. In response, this article argues that they cannot use this claim to shore up their ethical arguments. This is because it is false.
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - December 2, 2015 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research

Scientism and Pseudoscience: A Philosophical Commentary
Abstract The term “scientism” is used in a variety of ways with both negative and positive connotations. I suggest that some of these uses are inappropriate, as they aim simply at dismissing without argument an approach that a particular author does not like. However, there are legitimate negative uses of the term, which I explore by way of an analogy with the term “pseudoscience.” I discuss these issues by way of a recent specific example provided by a controversy in the field of bioethics concerning the value, or lack thereof, of homeopathy. I then frame the debate about scientism within the broader cont...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - November 28, 2015 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research

A Gentle Ethical Defence of Homeopathy
Abstract Recent discourses about the legitimacy of homeopathy have focused on its scientific plausibility, mechanism of action, and evidence base. These, frequently, conclude not only that homeopathy is scientifically baseless, but that it is “unethical.” They have also diminished patients’ perspectives, values, and preferences. We contend that these critics confuse epistemic questions with questions of ethics, misconstrue the moral status of homeopaths, and have an impoverished idea of ethics—one that fails to account either for the moral worth of care and of relationships or for the perspectives, values...
Source: Journal of Bioethical Inquiry - June 1, 2015 Category: Medical Ethics Source Type: research