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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Surveying Low-Cost Methods to Measure Lifespan and Healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans

Surveying Low-Cost Methods to Measure Lifespan and Healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans

Published on: May 18, 2022

Health and morality: two conceptually distinct categories?

Per-Anders Tengland¹

¹Health and Society, Malmö University, 206 05, Malmö, Sweden. per-anders.tengland@mah.se

Health Care Analysis : HCA : Journal of Health Philosophy and Policy

|May 14, 2011

Summary

This study explores the link between morality and health, finding that moral abilities and dispositions can be considered aspects of an individual's health. Severe, harmful immoral actions may indicate unhealthiness.

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 2, 2026

Surveying Low-Cost Methods to Measure Lifespan and Healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans

Surveying Low-Cost Methods to Measure Lifespan and Healthspan in Caenorhabditis elegans

Published on: May 18, 2022

Area of Science:

Philosophy of Medicine
Medical Ethics
Moral Psychology

Background:

Laypeople often equate immoral actions with poor health, particularly for severe offenses.
Diagnostic manuals like the DSM-IV and ICD-10 include personality disorders with moral implications, such as Antisocial and Dissocial personality disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

To analytically evaluate the conceptual soundness of integrating morality into theories of health.
To examine how morality can be related to health within theoretical frameworks.

Main Methods:

Utilizing Lennart Nordenfelt's holistic theory as a baseline for distinguishing morality and health.
Discussing various pluralistic holistic theories to explore potential connections between morality and health.

Main Results:

Moral abilities and dispositions can be conceptually integrated as components of an individual's health.
Incorporating moral virtues and specific immoral actions into health theories presents greater challenges.

Conclusions:

While moral abilities are linked to health, severe and clustered immoral actions causing harm to others can be grounds for deeming an individual unhealthy.
The relationship between morality and health is complex, with abilities being more readily integrated than actions or virtues.