Chinese Art

by Roger Fry, Laurence Binyon, Albert Frank Kendrick, Bernard Rackham, Walter Perceval Yetts, Osvald Sirén, W. W. Winkworth

1925

Our object in producing this book is to supply information about Chinese art that is at once authoritative and introductory. To many it may seem curious that no previous volume of the kind exists ; but to those who know the extreme difficulty of a detailed study of even one part of Chinese art, with its enormous periods and its close relationship to Eastern ideas, it may rather seem curious that anyone should attempt such a summary. We should not have given way to the desire to make such a book had we not known how valuable it would be if properly produced, and had we not felt that we had hit upon the right plan. -- Preface.

The Birth of Bioethics

by Albert R. Jonsen

2003 · Oxford University Press

Bioethics represents a dramatic revision of the centuries-old professional ethics that governed the behavior of physicians and their relationships with patients. This venerable ethics code was challenged in the years after World War II by the remarkable advances in the biomedical sciences and medicine that raised questions about the definition of death, the use of life-support systems, organ transplantation, and reproductive interventions. In response, philosophers and theologians, lawyers and social scientists joined together with physicians and scientists to rethink and revise the old standards. Governments established commissions to recommend policies. Courts heard arguments and legislatures passed laws. This book is the first broad history of the growing field of bioethics. Covering the period 1947-1987, it examines the origin and evolution of the debates over human experimentation, genetic engineering, organ transplantation, termination of life-sustaining treatment, and new reproductive technologies. It assesses the contributions of philosophy, theology, law and the social sciences to the expanding discourse of bioethics. Written by one of the field's founders, The Birth of Bioethics is based on extensive archival research into sources that are difficult to obtain and on interviews with many of the leading figures in the moral debates in medicine. A very readable and comprehensive account of the evolution of bioethics, this book stresses the history of ideas but does not neglect the social and cultural context and the people involved. It will serve the information needs of philosophers, ethicists, social historians, and everyone interested in the origins of some of today's most hotly debated issues.