Moral capacity is an important feature of what it means to be human. In this volume, the contributors have taken on the daunting task of trying to distinguish between legal and moral capacity. This distinction is difficult at times for clinicians, philosophers and legal scholars alike. Part of the challenge of defining moral capacity lies in the difficulty of adequately categorizing it. For this reason, the editors have chosen to divide the book into three parts. The first looks at the concepts involved in the discussion of moral capacity; the second considers the role of moral capacity in the lives of professionals; and the final part reflects on case studies of moral capacity or incapacity illustrating the challenge that moral capacity presents - its definition lying between two seemingly incommensurable models, those of the threshold and continuum.
This volume takes a multidisciplinary approach to the subject, and ties the disciplines of medicine, philosophy and law into the health context. It will be of interest to medical health professionals as well as researchers working in the areas of philosophy and law.

Inhalt

Contributors. Preface. Part One: Challenges of Moral Capacity. 1: Choices, Autonomy, and Moral Capacity; D.C. Thomasma. 2: Self-Conceptions, Agency, and the Value of Individual Persons; J. Blustein. 3: Kohlberg and the Structural-Developmental Approach to Moral Psychology; L. Walker. 4: Morality and Selfhood: Contributions from Moral Psychology; K. Hennig. 5: Developing Moral Capacity from Childhood to Young Adulthood; A.A. Pontius. 6: A Dream of Dirty Hands: Moral Conflict and Personal Conscience; K. Arnet Connidis. 7: Capacity Is Not In Your Head: Why It Can Be a Mistake to Request a Psychiatric Consultation to Determine Capacity; J. Spike. 8: How Not to Philosophize With a Hammer: Reply to Spike; K. Montgomery. 9: How Not to Philosophize With a Hammer: Reply to Montgomery; J. Spike. Part Two: Professional Morality and Criteria for Health Care Decisions. 10: Moral Capacity: The Tension Between Professional Nurture and Universal Nature; D.N. Weisstub, D.C. Thomasma. 11: Some Ethical Principles for Adult Critical Care; K. Kipnis, A. Gerhard. 12: The Influence of Pressure on Nurses' Moral Capacity; B. Kopala. 13: Surrogate Decision Making: A Case for Boundaries; R. Rhodes, I. Holzman. 14: Knowing Well or Living Well: Is Competence Relevant to Moral Experience and Capacity in Clinical Decision-Making; E. van Leeuwen, A. Vellinga. 15: Vulnerable Persons: Measuring Moral Capacity; M. Silberfeld. 16: Vulnerability in Research Subjects: An Analytical Approach; K. Kipnis. Part Three: Reflections on Moral Incapacity. 17: The Bad Brain: Biology of Moral Thinking; L.R. Tancredi. 18: Moral and Ethical Capacities of the Psychopath: An Integrated View; W.H.J. Martens. 19: The Moral Competence of Serial Killers: A Preliminary Exploration; G.B. Palermo. 20: Moral Capacities of Psychotic and Addicted Individuals; R. Weinstock. 21: Morality As Impulse and Ethics As 'Thinking' About Morality: A Psychoanalytic Perspective; C. Ury. Index.