Tuesday, Feb. 183:30 p.m. lecture, followed by panel discussion
Harper Center, Hixson-Lied Auditorium
With Thomas Cavanaugh, PhD, University of San Francisco, author of Hippocrates’ Oath and Asclepius’ Snake: The Birth of the Medical Profession (Oxford University Press).
Free and open to the public
What does it mean to say that medicine is a profession?
This lecture answers this question, proposing that the Hippocratic Oath is crucial for medicine’s status as a profession, for a robust profession involves solemn promising. The lecture will consider the solemn promises found in the Oath. Medicine conceived of as a profession with its own ethic will be contrasted with medicine viewed entirely as a technique devoid of its own ethic.
This lecture answers this question, proposing that the Hippocratic Oath is crucial for medicine’s status as a profession, for a robust profession involves solemn promising. The lecture will consider the solemn promises found in the Oath. Medicine conceived of as a profession with its own ethic will be contrasted with medicine viewed entirely as a technique devoid of its own ethic.
Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, the Department of Medical Humanities, and the Kingfisher Institute
