{"title":"Ethics and non-evidence based therapies: Portuguese perspective in a global setting.","authors":"João Madruga Dias","doi":"10.1007/s40592-022-00172-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A contemporary serious lack of scientific knowledge by the general public and many decision-makers is now quite perceptible, both globally and in Portugal. Living in a science-driven technological world filled with scientific illiteracy is dangerous and a path toward disaster. Recent years brought a fairly strong global movement promoting the so-called \"alternative therapy\" that also affected Portugal. I propose an evidence-based ethics reflection and argumentation, both encompassing the global and the specific Portuguese reality. I debate the specific arguments used in favour of alternative therapies, demonstrating the inherent fallacies of thought, deliberate manipulation of words and concepts, and the dire consequences for global and local health politics by following this line of biased reasoning.</p>","PeriodicalId":43628,"journal":{"name":"Monash Bioethics Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10654189/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Monash Bioethics Review","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s40592-022-00172-6","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2022/12/31 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ETHICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
A contemporary serious lack of scientific knowledge by the general public and many decision-makers is now quite perceptible, both globally and in Portugal. Living in a science-driven technological world filled with scientific illiteracy is dangerous and a path toward disaster. Recent years brought a fairly strong global movement promoting the so-called "alternative therapy" that also affected Portugal. I propose an evidence-based ethics reflection and argumentation, both encompassing the global and the specific Portuguese reality. I debate the specific arguments used in favour of alternative therapies, demonstrating the inherent fallacies of thought, deliberate manipulation of words and concepts, and the dire consequences for global and local health politics by following this line of biased reasoning.
期刊介绍:
Monash Bioethics Review provides comprehensive coverage of traditional topics and emerging issues in bioethics. The Journal is especially concerned with empirically-informed philosophical bioethical analysis with policy relevance. Monash Bioethics Review also regularly publishes empirical studies providing explicit ethical analysis and/or with significant ethical or policy implications. Produced by the Monash University Centre for Human Bioethics since 1981 (originally as Bioethics News), Monash Bioethics Review is the oldest peer reviewed bioethics journal based in Australia–and one of the oldest bioethics journals in the world.
An international forum for empirically-informed philosophical bioethical analysis with policy relevance.
Includes empirical studies providing explicit ethical analysis and/or with significant ethical or policy implications.
One of the oldest bioethics journals, produced by a world-leading bioethics centre.
Publishes papers up to 13,000 words in length.
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