A Dental Ethics Blog
In this article, I will critique the common sense notion that all our desires are one’s own and give us a sense of self. The second section will acknowledge how we can come to know an intelligible self and its desires through practical reason. The corollary establishes the foundations of pure desire that will tell…
In the Ethical Moment feature “Ethical issues when a dentist with an active practice dies,” Dr. Jill M. Burns, referencing the ADA code of ethics, suggested that dentists are obligated to inform staff of practice debt due to the “ethical obligation to ‘provide a workplace environment that supports respectful and collaborative relationships for all those…
The following was a question submitted by a student at Northern Michigan University. Please use the “contact us” page to make a submission of articles or questions that will be posted on this blog website. Question: If a person has a dental procedure (extraction and bone graft) by an “out of town” surgeon, returns home and…
This blog post will help to develop understanding of the concept of autonomy and its importance to ethics. We will juxtapose it with the concept of personal choice. Respect for autonomy is a very important principle in dental bioethics but it is often conceived as respect for personal choice. While modern day ethics is colloquial…
Philosophy of language is the third tripartite in the hierarchical foundations of philosophy. Every philosophical subject (ethics, religion, etc.) can be expressed as a “what is…?” question, “how do we know what is…?”, or a “how to express our knowledge of what…?”. Mindfulness of language selection is important in dentistry when it comes to dealing…
Mindfulness Mindfulness is a psychological and spiritual perspective that helps people to relieve anxiety and depression through more thoughtful examination of one’s thought processes and lifestyle. From a philosophical perspective, I hope to outline the rational foundations for one aspect of “negative” thinking: mind reading. We will explore the epistemological and the practical issues with…
Why People Think Dentistry Matters It becomes all too obvious that you need to go to the dentist when you have tooth pain or have a broken front tooth. This, however, makes dentistry matter conditionally. This means that something only matters based on specific subjective conditions and situations. Something that matters conditionally does not necessarily…
Many people claim that when I bring up ethics that my head is “in the clouds.” I take this as a compliment rather than an insult just as Socrates may have viewed the play The Clouds by Aristophanes. Socrates is portrayed as a sophist (someone who argues to confuse but has no substance), literally in the clouds…
What is Mindfulness? Mindfulness is the idea of increasing one’s conscious awareness of perceptions and centering one’s thoughts to present activities. Not only does it relieve stress and reduce anxiety, it is meant to help us order our lives so we live better. Mindfulness is composed of sensual and rational mediative techniques rooted in mainly…
This article will cover the metaethical foundations for kindness. We have to be carful not to confuse helping others or being nice with being moral. People help others do bad things and people are nice just to manipulate. This is being kind but not in any moral sense. A philosophical analysis will give a rational…