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Temperance, Moral Friendship, and Smoking Cessation
1St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy
|May 19, 2019
Summary
Public health approaches to smoking cessation are behaviorist, focusing on eliminating the habit. An Aristotelian model emphasizing virtue and moral friendship is proposed but deemed impracticable due to modern moral pluralism.
Area of Science:
- Medical Ethics
- Public Health
- Philosophy of Medicine
Background:
- Current public health strategies for smoking cessation predominantly use a behaviorist approach.
- This approach often overlooks individual agency and intention in behavior change.
- Physicians are increasingly tasked with managing smoking cessation, focusing on technical interventions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To contrast the prevailing behaviorist-managerial model of smoking cessation with an Aristotelian ethical tradition.
- To explore the potential of an Aristotelian approach, emphasizing virtue and shared conceptions of the good, in smoking cessation.
- To assess the practical applicability of Aristotelian medicine in contemporary, pluralistic societies.
Main Methods:
- Philosophical analysis and argumentation.
- Contrastive examination of behaviorist and Aristotelian ethical frameworks.
- Application of Aristotelian concepts (virtue, moral friendship, human good) to physician-patient interactions in smoking cessation.
Main Results:
- The behaviorist model of smoking cessation is critiqued for neglecting human agency.
- An Aristotelian model, centered on the virtue of temperance and moral friendship, is presented as an alternative.
- The study concludes that achieving the necessary moral friendship for Aristotelian medicine is unlikely in contemporary society due to moral pluralism.
Conclusions:
- The current behaviorist-managerial approach to smoking cessation in public health and medicine is limited.
- While an Aristotelian approach offers a richer ethical framework, its practical implementation for smoking cessation is currently infeasible.
- Addressing smoking cessation effectively may require innovative approaches that navigate moral pluralism while respecting patient autonomy and shared values.
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