Hindu bioethics for the twenty-first century /

This work is an ambitious attempt to address the field of bioethics from the perspective of Hinduism and Ayurveda or Indian medicine. Crawford (Univ. of Hawaii) argues that since bioethics entails the application of ethics to a distinct field of practice, forms of ethics that derive from other cultures should not be excluded from consideration with regard to the field of biomedicine. By suggesting that Hindu ethics are internally flexible and not absolutist or fundamentalist, he brings a useful voice to contemporary bioethical debates. The book's first section consists of a useful summary of Ayurvedic medicine, followed by discussion of the participatory model of the physician/patient relationship that this tradition advocates. Crawford then goes on to examine a number of important bioethical issues from the Hindu perspective, such as contraception and genetic engineering. In so doing he highlights the positive contribution that Hindu ethics can make in thinking through these issues. Moreover, he takes a critical stance vis-a-vis Hinduism, noting its inconsistency (and hence need for reform) in some areas, for instance the negative portrayal of women, which has led to problems such as selective abortions and female infanticide in India. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers; upper-level undergraduates and above. D. B. Gray William Marsh Rice University