Applying Rawls to Medical Cases: An Investigation into the Usages of Analytical Philosophy

John Rawls's Theory of Justice has been widely and correctly recognized as a tremendous intellectual accomplishment. It has been applauded as a comprehensive and satisfying approach to the problem of defining justice. Health policy analysts and medical ethicists have thus been inspired to apply Rawls's principles to various health care issues. The result has not been greater coherence in approaches to issues of policy and ethics, leading the author to question the validity of Rawls's analytical approach.