Philosophical and Ethical Problems in Mental Handicap

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. The Philosophical Problem

   • Peter Byrne

   Pages 1-15

3. Defining Mental Handicap

   • Peter Byrne

   Pages 16-44

4. The Moral Status of the Cognitively Disabled

   • Peter Byrne

   Pages 45-73

5. Euthanasia, Abortion and Genocide

   • Peter Byrne

   Pages 74-102

6. Cognitive Disability and Oppression

   • Peter Byrne

   Pages 103-134

7. Theological and Religious Issues

   • Peter Byrne

   Pages 135-157

8. Back Matter

   Pages 158-175

   PDF

This book examines a range of important conceptual, ethical, social and religious issues arising from mental handicap. It contains a vigorous defence of the contention that mentally handicapped human beings are persons. It attacks both the contemporary philosophical attempts to dismiss the personhood of mentally handicapped people and the genocidal policies which those attempts suggest. It explores the logic of the attitudes which have lead to the marginalisation and oppression of the mentally handicapped.

• bibliography
• concept
• ethics
• genocide
• logic
• morality
• philosophy

• King’s College London, UK

  Peter Byrne

PETER BYRNE is a Lecturer teaching ethics and philosophy at King's College London. He is the author of a number of monographs in the philosophy of religion and in ethics. He has edited a series of books in medical ethics and been actively involved in debates in medical ethics in the United Kingdom. He is the editor of Religious Studies, one of the leading international journals in the philosophy of religion.

Policies and ethics