Perhaps Aristotle’s greatest contribution to our understanding of human nature was his articulation of one of the fundamental qualities of humans: “Man is by nature a political animal” (Pol 1253a1-3). In other words, humans naturally tend to associate into communities and cities. During the classical period, as in modern times, the impact of community on health was enormous, bringing entirely new problems to light and exacerbating existing individual disorders. In my lecture, I will highlight three broad themes that characterize Aristotle’s political thought, applying them to general and particular public health issues:
(1) The “health virtues.” Aristotle characterizes virtue as a mean between two vicious extremes, presenting various accounts of its development in a person’s character. At the same time, he describes virtue as excellence, the extreme instance of good character. Using Aristotle’s model, I argue that excellent public health practices are best developed as virtues, or “habits of the heart.”
(2) Justice, a particular health virtue. Some of our most contentious health policy dilemmas are essentially questions of justice. Among the important issues Aristotle addresses are the following: Who deserves our finite resources? How much should they get? On what basis should these decisions be made?
(3) Communicating the health virtues. If virtue and ethics, as Aristotle argues, belong to the domain of habit (ethos), then health virtues must be passed on through a unique process of public education. How can health professionals best instill the health virtues in their constituents?
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to:
1) Recognize the similarities between ancient and modern conceptual problems in health policy.
2) Apply Aristotle’s model of distributive justice to particular public health ethics and policy questions (e.g., drug allotment, targeted immunization, transplant allocations).
3) Apply classical virtue theory to public health education (with an emphasis on modes of learning, communication skills, and habit development).
Keywords: Ethics, History
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.