Peter H

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Philosophical interests: Medical Ethics, Philosophy of Medicine, Philosophy of Biology, Philosophy of Science.

Education: B.A., Harvard College, 1987; M.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1993; M.D., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1999.

Hospital and/or Administrative Appointments: Medical Staff, Wishard Hospital & Clarian Hospitals; Research Subject Advocate, General Clinical Research Center, IU School of Medicine.

Representative articles: “Proper Function and Recent Selection,” Philosophy of Science 66 suppl. (1999): 210–22; “Genetic Breakthroughs and the Limits of Medicine: Short Stature, Growth Hormone, and the Idea of Dysfunction,” St. Thomas Law Review 13(4) (2001): 965–78; “The Continuing Usefulness Account of Proper Function,” in Functions: New Essays in the Philosophy of Psychology and Biology, ed. A. Ariew, R. Cummins, and M. Perlman (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002); “Moving Beyond Conceptual Analysis in the Function Debate,” Monist 87(1) (2004): 136–53; “Defending the Distinction Between Treatment and Enhancement” (Open Peer Commentary), American Journal of Bioethics 5(3) (2005): 17–19; “Silence About Screening” (Open Peer Commentary), American Journal of Bioethics 7(7) (2007): 46–48; “Decision and Discovery in Defining ‘Disease’,” in Establishing Medical Reality: Essays in the Metaphysics and Epistemology of Biomedical Science, ed. H. Kincaid and J. McKitrick (Dordrecht: Springer, 2007); “Defining Dysfunction: Natural Selection, Design, and Drawing a Line,” Philosophy of Science 2007; 74(7): 364-385; “The Ethics of Information: Absolute Risk Reduction and Patient Understanding of Screening” (with Eric M. Meslin) Journal of General Internal Medicine (forthcoming); "Risk and disease." Perspectives in Biology and Medicine (forthcoming).

Awards and Honors: Harvard Scholarships, Harvard College, 1984–86; John Harvard Scholarship, Harvard College, 1986–87; Magna cum laude BA degree (Biology and History), Harvard College, 1987; Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) Fellowship, 1992–96; Theodore Friedmann Prize, University of Pennsylvania Medical School, 1999.

Frequently taught courses: Genetics, Treatment, and Enhancement (P696, Topics in Biomedical Ethics); Philosophy of Medicine (P600, Topics in Philosophy). (**For course descriptions, see below.)

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Course descriptions:

Genetics, Treatment, & Enhancement (3 cr.):

In medicine, we have entered the era of enhancement. Psychoactive medications promise to lift our spirits and ease our anxieties. Medications acting on the outside of the head fix baldness. TV commercials inform the public, subtly, about medications for a problem that only men get. And genetics promises even more power over the body and brain, providing drugs that will initially combat disease but will eventually be used to modify the normal. Responding wisely to these revolutionary advances depends on developing a clear understanding of the line between disease and health, between treatment and enhancement. It also requires an examination of the roles of patient autonomy and informed consent in treatment decisions. These issues raise foundational questions about medicine, which we will consider in this course drawing on philosophy, of course, but also history and sociology.

Philosophy of Medicine (3 cr.):

Philosophy of medicine traditionally limits the scope of medical care by focusing on illness, i.e. prioritizing people who have a disease, and directs care through the principle of informed consent, i.e. relying on the free decisions of putative patients. But defining disease, and providing a philosophical account of its importance, and defining informed consent, and specifying its requirements in specific situations, continues to elude the most sophisticated analyses. In this seminar, we will focus on these two challenges, especially in light of advances in science and technology that provide more opportunities to enhance the healthy, rather than just treat disease, and that offer more varied and complex choices than could ever have been imagined previously.