A Charles Sturt University academic will launch a new book at a free event aimed at assisting students and professionals in the caring professions when faced with morally complex scenarios.

The book, Ethical Basics for the Caring Professions: Knowledge and Skills for Thoughtful Practice by Adjunct Research Fellow in Philosophy in the Charles Sturt School of Social Work and Arts Dr Graeme McLean, will be launched at 5.30pm on Wednesday 18 May in the Fairfax Centre of St Martin’s College, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga.

Participants can attend in person or via the live webinar link.

Dr McLean published the book to assist those in the caring professions when navigating complex situations with moral implications.

“The book is aimed at students and professionals in the health and social sectors who often face difficult moral decisions when looking after those in their care,” Dr McLean said.

“Its main purpose is to provide the student or the professional with the basic equipment required to think clearly and well through any of the moral problems which arise in the caring professions.”

Dr McLean provides two example scenarios at the end of the book where he suggests how these concepts and considerations could be applied.

“In the extended case study on euthanasia, I use the material we have gathered in the first part of the book – the material on how to dissect a moral problem, and on the principles that we all share in thinking about these problems – to show how we carefully reach a conclusion which fits well with the traditional and widely accepted medical view,” Dr McLean said.

“In the second extended case study, on screening for disability, we note a more naked contrast between different world views and philosophical theories, for here we see that some philosophers advocate the killing of disabled babies - after they are born.

“I use the logical tools gathered in the first part of the book to scrutinise very carefully the arguments those philosophers employ and the theories guiding their arguments.

“Our logical tools enable us to subject their views to very searching criticism. We see that we are faced with a contest between two starkly different ideas of the value of human life, and of our duty of care. Our careful testing of those ideas allows us to choose between them.”

The book will be launched by Charles Sturt Professor of Philosophy Seumas Miller. Professor Miller is an internationally distinguished philosopher who is also attached to Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and the University of Oxford in the UK.  

For further information on GR McLean, Ethical Basics for the Caring Professions: Knowledge and Skills for Thoughtful Practice (Routledge, 2021) click here.

The book will be available for a 20 per cent discount for those who attend the launch, either in person or via webinar.

Click here to attend the launch via live webinar on the day.

ENDS