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The Meaning of the Holocaust for Bioethics
Author(s) -
Caplan Arthur L.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
hastings center report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-146X
pISSN - 0093-0334
DOI - 10.2307/3562288
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , the holocaust , bioethics , citation , sociology , psychoanalysis , law , epistemology , philosophy , library science , psychology , computer science , theology , political science
Caplan reports on a May 1989 conference, sponsored by the Center for Biomedical Ethics at the University of Minnesota, that examined the meaning of the Holocaust for contemporary bioethics. Five themes were discussed: the role that mainstream medicine and science played in the creation of the Nazi state; what German scientists and physicians thought and did in the name of eugenics and euthanasia; the moral rationales science and medicine used to justify involvement with genocide, euthanasia, and racism; contemporary use of Nazi data from concentration camp research; and the appropriate use of metaphors and analogies to the Nazi era in contemporary bioethical debates. Conference participants included Caplan, Robert Proctor, Benno Muller-Hill, Jay Katz, Ruth Macklin, Robert Pozos, and three survivors of Nazi experiments: Susan Seiler Vigorito, Eva Kor, and Robert Berger.