To be alive when dying: moral catharsis and hope in patients with limited life prognosis.
Hope
Moral catharsis
Moral character
Narrative ethics
Suffering
Virtue ethics
Journal
Medicine, health care, and philosophy
ISSN: 1572-8633
Titre abrégé: Med Health Care Philos
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 9815900
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
Dec 2021
Dec 2021
Historique:
accepted:
26
05
2021
pubmed:
4
6
2021
medline:
26
11
2021
entrez:
3
6
2021
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
The Stoics considered that in order to die well, one must previously have lived (well) and not merely existed, an assertion which will not be contested in this paper. The question raised here is whether an individual whose life expectancy is jeopardized by serious illness or whose life has not been lived to the 'full' for whatever reason should have to abandon all hope or, alternately, whether that life could still somehow be saved (in an ethical sense). One clear obstacle to achieving this stems from (bad) moral character, given that moral character is an element which conditions an individual's moral behaviour, as pointed out by Beauchamp and Childress and particularly Pellegrino and Thomasma. The transformation of moral character requires time and effort but the testimonies of patients who have given their lives a radical new direction upon being diagnosed with a serious illness seem to show the existence of a peculiar phenomenon of moral catharsis. In this paper we attempt to illustrate that this alleged phenomenon is not the result of a kind of cataleptic impression but rather the result of a dialectic and narrative process, during which a first hope of healing is dashed, unveiling a new sense in the illness. Its fulfillment provides the patient with a final hope.
Identifiants
pubmed: 34081239
doi: 10.1007/s11019-021-10028-1
pii: 10.1007/s11019-021-10028-1
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
517-527Subventions
Organisme : Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
ID : PID2019-111115GB-I00
Informations de copyright
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.
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