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Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures pp 1452–1456Cite as

Medical Ethics

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The medical ethics of non‐Western cultures are not as cleanly differentiated from the rest of their religious and cultural value systems as they are in the West. There the traditional medical ethic of organized professional medicine is summarized in the Hippocratic Oath and the tradition surrounding it. This ethic that guides health care professionals is often in conflict with religious and philosophical traditions that provide more general ethical frameworks. By contrast, in non‐Western cultures, medical ethical questions are often addressed in the core ethics literature of the group, such as religious texts and philosophical writings.

The ancient cultures of Asia provide an example. Generally, they turn to classical texts for their medical ethical insights.

China

Although Chinese medicine has a history of at least 2,000 years, the first explicit medical ethical writing is usually attributed to Sun Simiao (also called Sun Simo, ca. AD 581–682). His “On the Absolute Sincerity of Great...

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Authors
  1. Robert M. Veatch
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Editor, Hampshire College, 893 West Street, 01002, Amherst, MA, USA

    Helaine Selin

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Veatch, R.M. (2008). Medical Ethics. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_9158

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