From beginner-friendly introductions to comprehensive textbooks on bioethics, this page features books to suit any learning style. It’s important to note that there is no single best book on bioethics. The best book for you will depend heavily on your preferred learning style and the amount of time/energy you’re willing to spend reading.
It’s also worth noting that it is not a list of personal recommendations. Personal book recommendations tend to be highly subjective, idiosyncratic, and unreliable. This list is part of a collection of over 100 philosophy reading lists which aim to provide a central resource for philosophy book recommendations. These lists were created by searching through hundreds of university course syllabi, internet encyclopedia bibliographies, and community recommendations. Links to the syllabi and other sources used to create this list are at the end of the post. Following these links will help you quickly find a broader range of options if the listed books do not fit what you are looking for.
Here are the best books on bioethics in no particular order.
The Basics of Bioethics – Robert M. Veatch
Category: Short Introduction | Length: 224 pages | Published: 2011
Publisher’s description: The third edition of The Basics of Bioethics continues to provide a balanced and systematic ethical framework to help students analyze a wide range of controversial topics in medicine, and consider ethical systems from various religious and secular traditions. The Basics of Bioethics covers the “Principalist” approach and identifies principles that are believed to make behavior morally right or wrong. It showcases alternative ethical approaches to health care decision making by presenting Hippocratic ethics as only one among many alternative ethical approaches to health care decision-making. The Basics of Bioethics offers case studies, diagrams, and other learning aids for an accessible presentation. Plus, it contains an all-encompassing ethics chart that shows the major questions in ethics and all of the major answers to these questions.
Principles of Biomedical Ethics – Tom L. Beauchamp & James F. Childress
Category: Comprehensive Textbook | Length: 480 pages | Published: 2012 (7e)
Publisher’s description: Building on the best-selling tradition of previous editions, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Seventh Edition, provides a highly original, practical, and insightful guide to morality in the health professions. Acclaimed authors Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress thoroughly develop and advocate for four principles that lie at the core of moral reasoning in health care: respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. Drawing from contemporary research–and integrating detailed case studies and vivid real-life examples and scenarios–they demonstrate how these prima facie principles can be expanded to apply to various conflicts and dilemmas, from how to deliver bad news to whether or not to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatments. …
A Companion to Bioethics – Helga Kuhse & Peter Singer
Category: Comprehensive Textbook | Length: 636 pages | Published: 2012 (2e)
Publisher’s description: This second edition of A Companion to Bioethics, fully revised and updated to reflect the current issues and developments in the field, covers all the material that the reader needs to thoroughly grasp the ideas and debates involved in bioethics.
- Thematically organized around an unparalleled range of issues, including discussion of the moral status of embryos and fetuses, new genetics, life and death, resource allocation, organ donations, AIDS, human and animal experimentation, health care, and teaching
- Now includes new essays on currently controversial topics such as cloning and genetic enhancement
- Topics are clearly and compellingly presented by internationally renowned bioethicists
- A detailed index allows the reader to find terms and topics not listed in the titles of the essays themselves
The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics – Bonnie Steinbock
Category: Comprehensive Textbook | Length: 768 pages | Published: 2009
Publisher’s description: Bonnie Steinbock presents The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics –an authoritative, state-of-the-art guide to current issues in bioethics.
Thirty-four contributors reflect the interdisciplinarity that is characteristic of bioethics, and its increasingly international character. Thirty topics are covered in original essays written by some of the world’s leading figures in the field, as well as by some newer “up-and-comers.” The essays address both perennial issues, such as the methodology of bioethics, autonomy, justice, death, and moral status, and newer issues, such as biobanking, stem cell research, cloning, pharmacogenomics, and bioterrorism. Other topics concern mental illness and moral agency, the rule of double effect, justice and the elderly, the definition of death, organ transplantation, feminist approaches to commodification of the body, life extension, advance directives, physician-assisted death, abortion, genetic research, population screening, enhancement, research ethics, and the implications of public and global health for bioethics.
Bioethics: An Anthology – Kuhse, Schüklenk & Singer
Category: Anthology | Length: 800 pages | Published: 2015 (3e)
Publisher’s description: Now fully revised and updated, Bioethics: An Anthology, 3rd edition, contains a wealth of new material reflecting the latest developments. This definitive text brings together writings on an unparalleled range of key ethical issues, compellingly presented by internationally renowned scholars.
- The latest edition of this definitive one-volume collection, now updated to reflect the latest developments in the field
- Includes several new additions, including important historical readings and new contemporary material published since the release of the last edition in 2006
- Thematically organized around an unparalleled range of issues, including discussion of the moral status of embryos and fetuses, new genetics, neuroethics, life and death, resource allocation, organ donations, public health, AIDS, human and animal experimentation, genetic screening, and issues facing nurses
- Subjects are clearly and captivatingly discussed by globally distinguished bioethicists
- A detailed index allows the reader to find terms and topics not listed in the titles of the essays themselves
The following sources were used to build this list:
University Course Syllabi:
- Bioethics – Johns Hopkins University
- Introduction to Bioethics – London School of Economics
Bibliographies:
- Bibliography for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Theory and Bioethics
- Bibliography for the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy article on Bioethics
Other Recommendations:
Additional Resources
You might also be interested in the following reading lists:
- The Best Introductory Philosophy Books
- The Best Introductory Books on Ethics
- The Best Books on Applied Ethics
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A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations – Lennox Johnson
Category: Reference | Length: 145 pages | Published: 2019
Publisher’s Description: A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations is a collection of the greatest thoughts from history’s greatest thinkers. Featuring classic quotations by Aristotle, Epicurus, David Hume, Friedrich Nietzsche, Bertrand Russell, Michel Foucault, and many more, A History of Western Philosophy in 500 Essential Quotations is ideal for anyone looking to quickly understand the fundamental ideas that have shaped the modern world.