Insights on the Theory and Practice of Proscribing Sterilization
Physicians are often regarded and treated in modern American society as nearly all-powerful technocrats, speaking their own arcane language of the relevant sciences, and suited to dispense cures for the bodily machine. Physic remains, however, at its best, the art and science of patient-care. In a somewhat similar way, while philosophy at its best remains precisely what common sense stubbornly expects it to be, namely wisdom, it is nevertheless often the case that philosophers speak more to one another more than they speak to the real needs of the world. Nevertheless, in our time as in all times, the larger public stands in serious need of the wisdom that is philosophy. The questions of the thoughtful person remain perennially the same: who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? The issues also remain the same which draw attention: the meaning oflife, of death, oflove. The physician (among others) cannot give what he does not have, and the need for wise physicians is deeply real. Dr. Moloney and I have attempted in a series of occasional conversations over the past two years to address one important and practical juncture between philosophy and medicine. We would now like to share some of the contents of that conversation with this audience. Often the physician in general or family practice is asked to prescribe contraceptives and/ or sterilization, both to men and to women. l We might well add that this is taken to be a mere matter of course by many patients, and that prima facie the physician might feel foolish if he declines to act according to the patient's wishes.