•  2470
    Transcendental Method in Action
    Method 30 (2): 1-24. 2016.
    Lonergan’s treatment of transcendental method in the first chapter of <Method in Theology> presents a bit of a puzzle. Something about heightening consciousness at the level of experience is different from the reflexive operations by which we objectify this heightened experience. Lonergan’s summary statement of transcendental method makes no explicit reference to what this difference is. In this paper, I work out an interpretation of transcendental method in which I relate the problem of bein…Read more
  •  224
    The GEM Model of Health: Parts 1-4
    European Journal for Person Centered Healthcare 3 (7): 421-442. 2019.
    In this four part essay I present a comprehensive model of health based on the generalized empirical method of Bernard Lonergan, which integrates the empirical method of natural science and the phenomenological method of historical and related human sciences in a way that is unique among contemporary thinkers. The GEM model, in turn, offers a unique framework - a higher viewpoint - for integrating the manifold viewpoints of clinical practice, the humanities (the drama and narrative of human livi…Read more
  •  75
    A theory of health science and the healing arts based on the philosophy of Bernard Lonergan
    Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 30 (2): 147-160. 2009.
    This paper represents a preliminary investigation relating Bernard Lonergan’s thought to health science and the healing arts. First, I provide background for basic elements of Lonergan’s theoretical terminology that I employ. As inquiry is the engine of Lonergan’s method, next I specify two questions that underlie medical insights and define several terms, including health, disease, and illness, in relation to these questions. Then I expand the frame of reference to include all disciplines invol…Read more
  •  65
    After a review of terminology, I identify—in addition to Margaret Battin’s list of five primary arguments for and against aid-in-dying—the argument from functional equivalence as another primary argument. I introduce a novel way to approach this argument based on Bernard Lonergan’s generalized empirical method. Then I proceed on the basis of GEM to distinguish palliative sedation, palliative sedation to unconsciousness when prognosis is less than two weeks, and foregoing life-sustaining treatmen…Read more
  •  65
    Common sense and the common morality in theory and practice
    Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 35 (3): 187-203. 2014.
    The unfinished nature of Beauchamp and Childress’s account of the common morality after 34 years and seven editions raises questions about what is lacking, specifically in the way they carry out their project, more generally in the presuppositions of the classical liberal tradition on which they rely. Their wide-ranging review of ethical theories has not provided a method by which to move beyond a hypothetical approach to justification or, on a practical level regarding values conflict, beyond a…Read more
  •  29
    Grounding medical ethics in philosophy of medicine: problematic and potential
    Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 40 (3): 169-182. 2019.
    After considering two of Pellegrino’s papers that address the relation between philosophy of medicine and medical ethics, I identify several overarching problems in his account that revolve around his self-described essentialism and the lack of a systematic attempt to relate clinical medicine to biomedicine and public health. I address these from the critical realist position of Bernard Lonergan, who grounds both metaphysics and ethics on the normative structure of human inquiry and seeks to und…Read more
  •  19
    New Approach to Disease, Risk, and Boundaries Based on Emergent Probability
    Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 47 (3): 457-481. 2022.
    The status of risk factors and disease remains a disputed question in the theory and practice of medicine and healthcare, and so does the related question of delineating disease boundaries. I present a framework based on Bernard Lonergan’s account of emergent probability for differentiating (1) generically distinct levels of systematic function within organisms and between organisms and their environments and (2) the methods of functional, genetic, and statistical investigation. I then argue on …Read more
  •  18
    An integral approach to health science and healthcare
    Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 38 (1): 15-40. 2017.
    Defining disease and delineating its boundaries is a contested area in contemporary philosophy of medicine. The leading naturalistic theory faces a new round of difficulties related to defining a normal environment alongside normal organismic functioning and to delineating a discrete boundary between risk factors and disease. Normative theories face ongoing and seemingly intractable difficulties related to value pluralism and the problematic relation between theory and practice. In this article,…Read more
  •  17
    Philosophy of medicine 2017: reviewing the situation
    Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 38 (6): 483-488. 2017.
    In this introduction to a special subsection of Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics comprising separate reviews of the Springer Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine, The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Medicine, and The Bloomsbury Companion to Contemporary Philosophy of Medicine, I compare the three texts with respect to their overall organization and their approach to the relation between the science and the art of medicine. I then indicate two areas that merit more explicit attention in …Read more
  •  11
    Authors present a practical approach to developing health care trainees' native ability as moral agents to become responsible health care practitioners. Highly recommended. Full text available free online.
  •  7
    The originally published review of this book did not include the information that an electronic version is available.
  •  2
    The Possibility of Hope
    Lonergan Workshop 25 53-84. 2011.