Nice to hear from you.

I have used the book to good effect in courses on ethical issues in health
professions. I have especially found the grid in chapter 9 (I think) useful
as a tool for weighing the many competing principles in decision making. One
minor criticism might be the central focus on autonomy, which might
presuppose a Western individualistic bias. In some cultures, the organism is
the family, and individuals are expendible within it, if the family's
overall wellbeing is deemed (by head of the family presumably) to be
threatened. At the very least, it raises another set of dilemmas.

David

At 11:13 14/08/97 +0000, you wrote:
>Forwarded message:
>From:     Self <Single-user mode>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Health Promotion: Philosophy, Prejudice and Practice
>Cc: [log in to unmask]
>Date: Thu, 14 Aug 1997 11:08:30
>
>Dear Marit
>
>I came across your comments recently.  I'm rather puzzled by them
>because they are mostly completely inaccurate.  For example, there
>are 125 references, not 300.  The book is quite clearly about health
>promotion - see chapter 5 (The Political Roots of Health Promotion)
>for instance, and the first two dialogues where I chart the
>development of public health/health education/health promotion.
>Furthermore I have not avoided professional discussions for 'the last
>ten years' - I know these all too well and several are referenced.
>
>Most remarkably you do not seem to have read Part Three at all (the
>book is in three parts).  If you had you could scarcely have said
>that I don't put forward a positive, practical theory of health
>promotion.  Please take a closer look at this section.  It is called
>'The Foundations Theory of Health Promotion', it is explained between
>pages 135 and 189, and it is as far as I know the only
>philosophically sustained theory of health promotion there is.
>
>I appreciate that the book may be hard going at times, but I assure
>you that it is directed at the central philosophical issues for
>health promotion, and will repay more careful study.
>
>Best wishes
>
>
>
>David Seedhouse
>
>
David Burman            [log in to unmask]
LETS Toronto            phone: 416-978-0536
                        fax:   416-878-8511