Why should a human being become a health care professional? Is it better to care
for human beings than to become a veterinarian and care for animals? The several
health professions are devoted to human beings, and training in those professions
involves learning how to care for people. But that training does not address the
question of what a human being is such that it deserves to be the beneficiary of the
professions. Moreover, health professionals themselves are human beings, and
they should face the question of how their professional activity relates to their own
lives as human beings. This course uses literary sources and essays, including
works written by medical professionals, to focus on the centrality of the human
person in health care.
This course fulfills the Forum requirement in the Foundations Program.
PHI 100 and any intermediate PHI course (151-154).