The New Medicine and the Old Ethics (review)

the way scientists do their work, and of how all these come together in the process of transforming traditions." This book "is more morphological, concentrating on the form and the patterns of change in the traditions and lines of research within them, rather than physiological and focused on the functioning or larger role of the traditions." This is a fascinating work with a rare depth of understanding ofboth scientific theory and practice. The Absent Body. By Drew Leder. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1990. Pp. 218. $34.95; $14.95 (paper). The author probes the inner, visceral body that is absent from conscious experience. He reveals "those ways in which our bodies are absent in daily life, whether forgotten, alien, uncontrollable, or obscured," and studies "the ways in which bodily phenomena manifest structures of concealment and alienation." He presents "a highly original critique of Cartesian dualism, arguing that it is based upon, but misinterprets, our everyday experience." "The notion of lived body here employed refers to the embodied person witnessed from the third-person and first-person perspective alike, articulated by science as well as the life-world gaze, including intellectual cognition along with visceral and sensorimotor capacities." This philosophical treatise explores the relationship between medical and phenomenological themes concerning the body and embodiment. It is an important addition to the growing literature on embodiment. The New Medicine and the Old Ethics. By Albert R. Jonsen. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1990. Pp. 171. $18.95. Despite the remarkable record of scientific discovery, clinical triumph, and personal sacrifice, the history of medicine also contains evidence of obscurantism , dogmatism, and greed. The author addresses "the conflict between altruism and self-interest, which he believes is built into the structure of medical care and woven into the very fabric of physicians' lives." He states that his book inclines to Aristotle rather than Descartes and Spinoza. He points out that "medicine has moved from being an institution in which the physician is the dominant actor, the patient-physician relation the dominant scenario, and diagnosis and therapy the dominant script, to an institution in which physicians, a multitude of other providers, and newly empowered patients share equal billing." He calls for a return to the methods and values of the humanities. "He reformulates the old ethics in terms that bring justice, competence, and compassion to bear on contemporary biomedical dilemmas." Dr. Jonsen is Professor and Chair of the Department of Medical History and Ethics in the University of Washington, Seattle. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 36, 1 ¦ Autumn 1992 157 ...