- Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
Lazare Benaroyo
University of Lausanne, Faculté de Biologie et de Médecine, Faculty Member
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At a time when the practice of medicine is subject to technical and biopolitical imperatives that give rise to defensive bioethics, it is essential to revitalize the ethical dimensions of care at the very heart of the clinic, in order to... more
At a time when the practice of medicine is subject to technical and biopolitical imperatives that give rise to defensive bioethics, it is essential to revitalize the ethical dimensions of care at the very heart of the clinic, in order to give new meaning to the moral responsibility that inhabits it. This contribution seeks to meet this challenge by drawing on the ethical resources of the work of Emmanuel Levinas. In Levinas’ view, ethical responsibility is the response to the injunction, the interpellation, of the other’s face, and humaneness is conceived entangled in the other’s face. Against this background, I suggest that Levinas’ philosophical insight constitutes a turning point from a traditional to a new conception of responsibility that may bear great significance to a renewed understanding of an hermeneutics and an ethics of care. By drawing on this aspect of Levinas’ thought, I would like to reveal the ethical core of an ethics of clinical care that shapes a new insight on ...
Research Interests:
At a time when the practice of medicine is subject to technical and biopolitical imperatives that give rise to defensive bioethics, it is essential to revitalize the ethical dimensions of care at the very heart of the clinic, in order to... more
At a time when the practice of medicine is subject to technical and biopolitical imperatives that give rise to defensive bioethics, it is essential to revitalize the ethical dimensions of care at the very heart of the clinic, in order to give new meaning to the moral responsibility that inhabits it. This contribution seeks to meet this challenge by drawing on the ethical resources of the work of Emmanuel Levinas. In Levinas’ view, ethical responsibility is the response to the injunction, the interpellation, of the other’s face, and humaneness is conceived entangled in the other’s face. Against this background, I suggest that Levinas’ philosophical insight constitutes a turning point from a traditional to a new conception of responsibility that may bear great significance to a renewed understanding of an hermeneutics and an ethics of care. By drawing on this aspect of Levinas’ thought, I would like to reveal the ethical core of an ethics of clinical care that shapes a new insight on ...
Research Interests:
In this article I look at the significance of Emmanuel Levinas' thought for an ethics of care. I argue that the meaning Levinas gives to the term « face » is a central aspect related to this issue. The face is in this French... more
In this article I look at the significance of Emmanuel Levinas' thought for an ethics of care. I argue that the meaning Levinas gives to the term « face » is a central aspect related to this issue. The face is in this French philosopher's view an ambiguous phenomenon, an enigma, that bears high ethical significance : beyond its physical appearance, the face of the other escapes every affort at representation, it indicates the way in which the representation of the other exceeds any idea of the other in me, and it is precisely this irreducibility of alterity that lights up its ethical meaning. In Levinas' view, to be oneself is to be for the other, and the otherness of the other manifests itself in the face-to-face encounter. Accordingly, responsibility is the response to the injunction, the interpellation, of the other's face, preceding the claim of justice, and humaneness is conceived as entangled in the other's face. Against this background, I suggest that Levinas' philosophical insight constitutes a turning point from a traditional to a new conception of responsibility that may bear great significance to a renewed understanding of an hermeneutics and an ethics of care.
Research Interests:
In this article I look at the significance of Emmanuel Levinas' thought for an ethics of care. I argue that the meaning Levinas gives to the term « face » is a central aspect related to this issue. The face is in this French... more
In this article I look at the significance of Emmanuel Levinas' thought for an ethics of care. I argue that the meaning Levinas gives to the term « face » is a central aspect related to this issue. The face is in this French philosopher's view an ambiguous phenomenon, an enigma, that bears high ethical significance : beyond its physical appearance, the face of the other escapes every affort at representation, it indicates the way in which the representation of the other exceeds any idea of the other in me, and it is precisely this irreducibility of alterity that lights up its ethical meaning. In Levinas' view, to be oneself is to be for the other, and the otherness of the other manifests itself in the face-to-face encounter. Accordingly, responsibility is the response to the injunction, the interpellation, of the other's face, preceding the claim of justice, and humaneness is conceived as entangled in the other's face. Against this background, I suggest that Levinas' philosophical insight constitutes a turning point from a traditional to a new conception of responsibility that may bear great significance to a renewed understanding of an hermeneutics and an ethics of care.
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On trouvera ici un recueil des grands textes medicaux, litteraires, de philosophie et de sciences sociales sur l'experience de la maladie et du soin. Il revele combien cette experience etait deja au coeur de la pensee la plus... more
On trouvera ici un recueil des grands textes medicaux, litteraires, de philosophie et de sciences sociales sur l'experience de la maladie et du soin. Il revele combien cette experience etait deja au coeur de la pensee la plus classique, mais aussi comment elle est devenue classique dans la pensee la plus contemporaine. D'Hippocrate a Georges Canguilhem, de Tolstoi a Susan Sontag, de Montaigne a Michel Foucault et Erving Goffman, ces classiques permettent d'apprehender les tensions les plus profondes et actuelles du soin : geste technique et relation ethique ; souci de soi et presence a l'autre ; quete de sens et travail ; solidarite et risque d'exclusion ; raison d'etre ou point aveugle de la medecine. Chaque texte est suivi d'un commentaire destine aux etudiants de philosophie et de medecine (notamment de Premiere Annee Commune des Etudes de Sante) et a tous ceux qu'interessent les dimensions scientifiques, ethiques et sociales du soin.
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On trouvera ici un recueil des grands textes medicaux, litteraires, de philosophie et de sciences sociales sur l'experience de la maladie et du soin. Il revele combien cette experience etait deja au coeur de la pensee la plus... more
On trouvera ici un recueil des grands textes medicaux, litteraires, de philosophie et de sciences sociales sur l'experience de la maladie et du soin. Il revele combien cette experience etait deja au coeur de la pensee la plus classique, mais aussi comment elle est devenue classique dans la pensee la plus contemporaine. D'Hippocrate a Georges Canguilhem, de Tolstoi a Susan Sontag, de Montaigne a Michel Foucault et Erving Goffman, ces classiques permettent d'apprehender les tensions les plus profondes et actuelles du soin : geste technique et relation ethique ; souci de soi et presence a l'autre ; quete de sens et travail ; solidarite et risque d'exclusion ; raison d'etre ou point aveugle de la medecine. Chaque texte est suivi d'un commentaire destine aux etudiants de philosophie et de medecine (notamment de Premiere Annee Commune des Etudes de Sante) et a tous ceux qu'interessent les dimensions scientifiques, ethiques et sociales du soin.
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À l’heure où la pratique de la médecine est soumise à des impératifs techniques et biopolitiques qui suscitent une (bio)éthique défensive, il est essentiel de revivifier les dimensions éthiques du soin au cœur même de la clinique, pour... more
À l’heure où la pratique de la médecine est soumise à des impératifs techniques et biopolitiques qui suscitent une (bio)éthique défensive, il est essentiel de revivifier les dimensions éthiques du soin au cœur même de la clinique, pour redonner sens à la responsabilité morale qui l’habite. Cette contribution cherche à relever ce défi en puisant aux ressources anthropologiques, épistémologiques et éthiques des travaux de Viktor von Weizsäcker, de Georges Canguilhem, de Paul Ricœur et d’Emmanuel Lévinas, dont les recherches ont ouvert, dès le milieu du XXe siècle, la voie d’une anthropologie clinique qui pose les jalons d’une éthique de responsabilité propre à l’exercice de la médecine. À la lumière de ces recherches, où médecine et philosophie se nourrissent mutuellement, cette étude propose une éthique du soin qui contribue à maintenir vivants les liens unissant éthique et médecine.
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À l’heure où la pratique de la médecine est soumise à des impératifs techniques et biopolitiques qui suscitent une (bio)éthique défensive, il est essentiel de revivifier les dimensions éthiques du soin au cœur même de la clinique, pour... more
À l’heure où la pratique de la médecine est soumise à des impératifs techniques et biopolitiques qui suscitent une (bio)éthique défensive, il est essentiel de revivifier les dimensions éthiques du soin au cœur même de la clinique, pour redonner sens à la responsabilité morale qui l’habite. Cette contribution cherche à relever ce défi en puisant aux ressources anthropologiques, épistémologiques et éthiques des travaux de Viktor von Weizsäcker, de Georges Canguilhem, de Paul Ricœur et d’Emmanuel Lévinas, dont les recherches ont ouvert, dès le milieu du XXe siècle, la voie d’une anthropologie clinique qui pose les jalons d’une éthique de responsabilité propre à l’exercice de la médecine. À la lumière de ces recherches, où médecine et philosophie se nourrissent mutuellement, cette étude propose une éthique du soin qui contribue à maintenir vivants les liens unissant éthique et médecine.
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Cet article cherche a evaluer les conditions de possibilite d'une integration appropriee de l'approche Evidence-Based Medicine a la medecine clinique. Un examen des difficultes soulevees par l'application de cette approche a... more
Cet article cherche a evaluer les conditions de possibilite d'une integration appropriee de l'approche Evidence-Based Medicine a la medecine clinique. Un examen des difficultes soulevees par l'application de cette approche a la pratique medicale ouvre l'horizon d'une reflexion methodologique et ethique sur la notion de jugement medical. Sur cette base, je suggere d'interpreter la methode Evidence-Based Medicine comme une technique qui, une fois integree dans le cadre d'une ethique de la relation de soin, facilite l'elaboration d'un jugement medical prudentiel - soit d'un jugement qui vise a soulager la souffrance et a retablir la sante du malade en evaluant le rapport risques/ benefices d'une intervention medicale a la lumiere des champs de valeurs existentielles de ce dernier, et du contexte de soin.
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Cet article cherche a evaluer les conditions de possibilite d'une integration appropriee de l'approche Evidence-Based Medicine a la medecine clinique. Un examen des difficultes soulevees par l'application de cette approche a... more
Cet article cherche a evaluer les conditions de possibilite d'une integration appropriee de l'approche Evidence-Based Medicine a la medecine clinique. Un examen des difficultes soulevees par l'application de cette approche a la pratique medicale ouvre l'horizon d'une reflexion methodologique et ethique sur la notion de jugement medical. Sur cette base, je suggere d'interpreter la methode Evidence-Based Medicine comme une technique qui, une fois integree dans le cadre d'une ethique de la relation de soin, facilite l'elaboration d'un jugement medical prudentiel - soit d'un jugement qui vise a soulager la souffrance et a retablir la sante du malade en evaluant le rapport risques/ benefices d'une intervention medicale a la lumiere des champs de valeurs existentielles de ce dernier, et du contexte de soin.
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Since 2007, the Interdisciplinary Ethics Platform (Ethos) of the University of Lausanne is leading an interdisciplinary reflection on the organ donation decision. On this basis, the project "Organ transplantation between the rhetoric... more
Since 2007, the Interdisciplinary Ethics Platform (Ethos) of the University of Lausanne is leading an interdisciplinary reflection on the organ donation decision. On this basis, the project "Organ transplantation between the rhetoric of the gift and a biomedical view of the body" studies the logics at stake in the organ donation decision-making process. Results highlight many tensions within practices and public discourses in the field of organ donation and transplantation and suggest lines of inquiry for future adjustments.
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Avant d’être appelé à occuper la première chaire de pathologic à l'Universitc de Genève, Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn a publié en 1871 sa these de doctoral intitules: Zur Lehre von der Entzündung und Eiterung. Ce travail, rédigé sous la... more
Avant d’être appelé à occuper la première chaire de pathologic à l'Universitc de Genève, Friedrich Wilhelm Zahn a publié en 1871 sa these de doctoral intitules: Zur Lehre von der Entzündung und Eiterung. Ce travail, rédigé sous la direction d’ Edwin Klebs, à Berne, démontre expërimentale merit que le prétendu Microsporon septicum (un champignon infectieux identifié par ce dernier) provoque une inflammation locale ainsi que Fapparition de foyers de suppuration secondaires, a distance. Cette étude confirme apparemment Fhypothèse de Klebs selon laquelle le Microsporon septicum, habituellement present dans les plates, est la cause d' une maladie infectieuse. La recherche de Zahn fait d’emblée Fob jet d’une critique, également adressée à Klebs : V identification du microorga-nisme, de rnëme que la demonstration de son action causale ne s ont pas concluan-tes. A Fissue du debat, il est admis qu’un microorganisme ne pent être la cause d'un état infectieux qu'aux deux condit...
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Since 2007, the Interdisciplinary Ethics Platform (Ethos) of the University of Lausanne is leading an interdisciplinary reflection on the organ donation decision. On this basis, the project "Organ transplantation between the rhetoric... more
Since 2007, the Interdisciplinary Ethics Platform (Ethos) of the University of Lausanne is leading an interdisciplinary reflection on the organ donation decision. On this basis, the project "Organ transplantation between the rhetoric of the gift and a biomedical view of the body" studies the logics at stake in the organ donation decision-making process. Results highlight many tensions within practices and public discourses in the field of organ donation and transplantation and suggest lines of inquiry for future adjustments.
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Depuis les années 1970, l'éthique biomédicale est conçue comme l'application d'une théorie éthique à la pratique médicale. Plusieurs auteurs ont discuté cette approche, et considéré qu'il est primordial de s'intéresser... more
Depuis les années 1970, l'éthique biomédicale est conçue comme l'application d'une théorie éthique à la pratique médicale. Plusieurs auteurs ont discuté cette approche, et considéré qu'il est primordial de s'intéresser aux obligations morales qui émanent de l'exercice de la médecine. Cette contribution puise aux sources de la conception de la responsabilité de Levinas, ainsi que des limites qui en définissent les contours, afin de mettre en lumière une dimension fondamentale de l'éthique du soin.
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OBJECTIVES In Switzerland, in spite of a positive attitude towards organ donation, the population seems to overlook the public health messages about it. Based on a qualitative study on campaigns about organ donation, the article aims to... more
OBJECTIVES In Switzerland, in spite of a positive attitude towards organ donation, the population seems to overlook the public health messages about it. Based on a qualitative study on campaigns about organ donation, the article aims to give practical suggestions to prevent undesirable effects in public health communication. METHODS The study provides a linguistic analysis of the messages about organ donation produced by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. Such a method enables us to understand who communicates what, to whom, how and what for, and gives us empirical data to discuss ethical concerns in relation to the effects of public health messages. RESULTS The analysis shows that the messages, apart from those relying on the expertise of healthcare professionals, are based on the representation of lay persons. The latter strategy generates the depiction of imagined communities. CONCLUSIONS Beyond the usual concerns relating to organ donation (e.g., consent, altruism), the analysis of FOPH messages indicates that ethical issues in public health communication are grounded on three relational dimensions (intersubjectivity, cooperation and equity). PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS A procedure assessing the ethical concerns of public health communication in terms of social identities and relational consequences could identify and prevent problems relating to the undesirable effects of messages. AVAILABILITY OF DATA AND MATERIALS The datasets used and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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The optional course « Living facing death » is the result of an innovative educational approach jointly developed by CHUV's Palliative Care Service, Lausanne's School of Medicine, Medical Ethics Unit and the students'... more
The optional course « Living facing death » is the result of an innovative educational approach jointly developed by CHUV's Palliative Care Service, Lausanne's School of Medicine, Medical Ethics Unit and the students' association « Doctors & Death ». It is intended for 3rd and 4th grade medical students and was inspired by previous experiences conducted at Harvard Medical School. Its primary objective is to help students to « take some distances ». A mixed quantitative/qualitative satisfaction questionnaire was administered to all participating students at the completion of the course. It confirms experiential knowledge is a valuable teaching tool to improve medical students' attitude toward end-of-life issues.
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Informed consent and return of research results are among the most debated topics in the biobank literature. We discuss ethical, social, and policy issues associated with returning results in the context of biobanks using a broad consent... more
Informed consent and return of research results are among the most debated topics in the biobank literature. We discuss ethical, social, and policy issues associated with returning results in the context of biobanks using a broad consent approach, in the light of data from a qualitative survey of citizens' and physicians' views. Data were collected through interviews and focus groups to investigate stakeholders' perspectives about a large-scale hospital-based biobank designed to foster biomedical research, including prospective genomics research, and "personalized" medicine. Both physicians and citizens considered psychosocial impacts as crucial in the assessment of benefits expected from a return of results to biobank participants. In particular, physicians highlighted the possible consequences on the patient-doctor relationship and discussed implications for the concept of "personalized" medicine. Citizens held ambivalent attitudes toward returning ...
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This chapter reviews some basic concepts underlying ethical issues in adolescence and provides a step-by-step procedure to address ethical dilemmas involving minor adolescents, based on a deliberative approach. "Deliberation" with the... more
This chapter reviews some basic concepts underlying ethical issues in adolescence and provides a step-by-step procedure to address ethical dilemmas involving minor adolescents, based on a deliberative approach. "Deliberation" with the patient, along with involving the opinion of relevant stakeholders if possible, allows for a careful, multidisciplinary examination of all options, the medical and psychosocial consequences, and the moral values stressed by each option. Although the final decision regarding which ethical option should be chosen usually belongs to the health care providers and his or her patient, the deliberative approach provides the ingredients for sound, unbiased decision-making.
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Since the introduction of the principle of respect of autonomy in medical ethics, the respect of the will of the patient occupied a central place in the decision-making process. To face up to the difficulties that appeared during the... more
Since the introduction of the principle of respect of autonomy in medical ethics, the respect of the will of the patient occupied a central place in the decision-making process. To face up to the difficulties that appeared during the application of this principle in clinical medicine, Bruce Miller proposed in the early eighties one way to clarify the significance of this notion in the field of medical practice. He showed that the concept of autonomy can be understood under four senses which deserve to be explored in case of ethical conflict. This article shows, through the analysis of a clinical situation, the relevance of the approach suggested by this author and proposes to refer to this approach in case of ethical dilemmas in clinical practice.
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In this article I look at the significance of Emmanuel Levinas' thought for an ethics of care. I argue that the meaning Levinas gives to the term « face » is a central aspect related to this issue. The face is in this French philosopher's... more
In this article I look at the significance of Emmanuel Levinas' thought for an ethics of care. I argue that the meaning Levinas gives to the term « face » is a central aspect related to this issue. The face is in this French philosopher's view an ambiguous phenomenon, an enigma, that bears high ethical significance : beyond its physical appearance, the face of the other escapes every affort at representation, it indicates the way in which the representation of the other exceeds any idea of the other in me, and it is precisely this irreducibility of alterity that lights up its ethical meaning. In Levinas' view, to be oneself is to be for the other, and the otherness of the other manifests itself in the face-to-face encounter. Accordingly, responsibility is the response to the injunction, the interpellation, of the other's face, preceding the claim of justice, and humaneness is conceived as entangled in the other's face. Against this background, I suggest that Levinas' philosophical insight constitutes a turning point from a traditional to a new conception of responsibility that may bear great significance to a renewed understanding of an hermeneutics and an ethics of care.
Research Interests:
Since 2007, the Interdisciplinary Ethics Platform (Ethos) of the University of Lausanne is leading an interdisciplinary reflection on the organ donation decision. On this basis, the project "Organ transplantation between the rhetoric of... more
Since 2007, the Interdisciplinary Ethics Platform (Ethos) of the University of Lausanne is leading an interdisciplinary reflection on the organ donation decision. On this basis, the project "Organ transplantation between the rhetoric of the gift and a biomedical view of the body" studies the logics at stake in the organ donation decision-making process. Results highlight many tensions within practices and public discourses in the field of organ donation and transplantation and suggest lines of inquiry for future adjustments.
Research Interests:
L’ouvrage interroge les façons de dépasser le carcan étroit imposé par la partition disciplinaire des domaines du savoir. Comment sortir de sa discipline ? Comment surmonter la difficulté, toujours répétée, de s’introduire dans la... more
L’ouvrage interroge les façons de dépasser le carcan étroit imposé par la partition disciplinaire des domaines du savoir. Comment sortir de sa discipline ? Comment surmonter la difficulté, toujours répétée, de s’introduire dans la forteresse d’un espace de connaissance voisin avec l’humilité nécessaire pour éviter des simplifications et des appropriations grossières ? A l’interdisciplinarité traditionnelle, et à ses limites maintes fois observées, l’ouvrage oppose la voie de l’indisciplinarité, s’agissant d’inventer et de pratiquer une certaine forme de transgression disciplinaire. La transgression demande une forme de renoncement aux explications stéréotypées propres à chaque discipline. L’ouvrage présente dès lors une démarche de recherche nouvelle par une manière de perception partagée en l’illustrant par des objets communs aux différentes (in)disciplines, qu’’il s’agisse du phénomène placebo, de l’effet symétrie ou du langage scientifique.
Cette réflexion est l’œuvre du Groupe π, un collectif d’enseignants-chercheurs de l’Université de Lausanne, travaillant dans des disciplines diverses : droit, économie, éthique, linguistique, mathématiques, médecine, philosophie et psychophysiologie. Les auteurs de l’ouvrage sont Lazare Benaroyo, Anne-Claude Berthoud, Jacques Diezi, Gilles Merminod, Alain Papaux, Françoise Schenk, Jean-Claude Usunier et Henri Volken.
Cette réflexion est l’œuvre du Groupe π, un collectif d’enseignants-chercheurs de l’Université de Lausanne, travaillant dans des disciplines diverses : droit, économie, éthique, linguistique, mathématiques, médecine, philosophie et psychophysiologie. Les auteurs de l’ouvrage sont Lazare Benaroyo, Anne-Claude Berthoud, Jacques Diezi, Gilles Merminod, Alain Papaux, Françoise Schenk, Jean-Claude Usunier et Henri Volken.