Toward a Philosophy of Harm Reduction

In this paper, I offer a prolegomenon to the philosophy of harm reduction. I begin with an overview of the philosophical literature on both harm and harm reduction, and a brief summary of harm reduction scholarship outside of philosophy in order to make the case that philosophers have something to c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inHealth care analysis Vol. 28; no. 4; pp. 302 - 313
Main Author Dea, Shannon
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Springer US 01.12.2020
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Addictions
Ethics
Harm reduction
Health administration
Health Informatics
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Original Article
Philosophers
Philosophy
Philosophy of Medicine
Public Health
Sex industry
Policy
Harm reduction
Harm
Philosophy
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Summary:In this paper, I offer a prolegomenon to the philosophy of harm reduction. I begin with an overview of the philosophical literature on both harm and harm reduction, and a brief summary of harm reduction scholarship outside of philosophy in order to make the case that philosophers have something to contribute to understanding harm reduction, and moreover that engagement with harm reduction would improve philosophical scholarship. I then proceed to survey and assess the nascent and still modest philosophy of harm reduction literature that has begun to emerge. I pay particular attention to two Canadian philosophers who have called for the expansion of harm reduction beyond the realm of so-called “vice” (that is, addiction, intoxicants and sex work). Finally, I sketch some of the most interesting and important philosophical issues that I think the philosophy of harm reduction must grapple with going forward.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
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ISSN:1065-3058
1573-3394
DOI:10.1007/s10728-020-00405-x