| Preface and Acknowledgements | p. ix |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| Broad aim of the book | p. 1 |
| Plan of the book | p. 1 |
| Illness, Narratives and the Value of the Nurse-Patient Relationship | p. 4 |
| Introduction | p. 4 |
| Illness and narratives | p. 4 |
| Hospitalization and patients' emotions | p. 6 |
| A brief history of the nurse-patient relationship | p. 9 |
| The nurse-patient relationship in contemporary nursing and the notion of empowerment | p. 10 |
| Therapeutic nurse-patient relationships | p. 13 |
| The role of the nurse | p. 16 |
| Barker, Jackson and Stevenson on the essential feature of mental health nursing | p. 19 |
| Defining a 'good' nurse | p. 22 |
| Conclusions | p. 24 |
| The Virtues in General Ethics | p. 26 |
| Introduction | p. 26 |
| On 'faring well' | p. 26 |
| The virtues in the history of philosophy | p. 27 |
| What is a virtue? | p. 28 |
| Assumptions about virtues and goodness | p. 30 |
| Virtues or vices? | p. 31 |
| Is it possible to provide a complete list of virtues? | p. 31 |
| What might determine important virtues? | p. 32 |
| What is a virtue? Revisited | p. 34 |
| Why should the virtues be valued? | p. 35 |
| Advantages of the virtue-based approach to morality | p. 37 |
| Problems with the virtues | p. 38 |
| Conclusions | p. 39 |
| A Critique of Obligation-Based Moral Theories in General Ethics | p. 40 |
| Introduction | p. 40 |
| Characterizing obligation-based moral theories | p. 40 |
| Consequentialism | p. 41 |
| Objections to act-consequentialism | p. 44 |
| Problems with utilitarianism | p. 48 |
| Merits of consequentialism | p. 57 |
| Rule-consequentialism | p. 58 |
| Consequentialism - conclusions | p. 59 |
| Deontology | p. 60 |
| Contemporary deontology | p. 60 |
| Deontological constraints | p. 63 |
| Intention and foresight in deontology | p. 65 |
| Problems with deontology | p. 68 |
| Deontology and intuitions: A response | p. 74 |
| Deontology: Conclusions | p. 75 |
| Conclusions | p. 75 |
| The Origins, Development and Tenets of Virtue Ethics | p. 77 |
| Introduction | p. 77 |
| The origins and development of virtue ethics | p. 77 |
| The central tenets of virtue ethics | p. 78 |
| Virtue ethics: Nomenclature | p. 79 |
| Supplementary virtue ethics | p. 79 |
| Strong virtue ethics | p. 82 |
| Aristotle's virtue ethics | p. 83 |
| Objections to Aristotle's ethics | p. 88 |
| Virtue ethics and moral character | p. 91 |
| Conclusions | p. 94 |
| Common Objections to Virtue Ethics | p. 95 |
| Introduction | p. 95 |
| Conclusions | p. 108 |
| A Critical Account of Obligation-Based Moral Theories in Nursing Practice | p. 109 |
| Introduction | p. 109 |
| Why are obligation-based moral theories popular in nursing? | p. 109 |
| Examples of the deontic approach to moral decision-making in the nursing literature | p. 110 |
| Moral decision-making tools | p. 114 |
| The four principles approach to biomedical ethics | p. 115 |
| Criticisms of obligation-based moral theories in nursing | p. 120 |
| Conclusions | p. 122 |
| Virtue-Based Moral Decision-Making in Nursing Practice | p. 125 |
| Introduction | p. 125 |
| Judgement and moral wisdom | p. 126 |
| The virtue-based helping relationship | p. 134 |
| The virtue-based approach to moral decision-making in nursing practice | p. 141 |
| Merits of the virtue-based approach to moral decision-making in nursing practice | p. 144 |
| Criticisms of the virtue-based approach to moral decision-making in nursing practice | p. 148 |
| Conclusions | p. 155 |
| MacIntyre's Account of the Virtues | p. 157 |
| Introduction | p. 157 |
| Criticisms of MacIntyre's thesis | p. 167 |
| Conclusions | p. 178 |
| MacIntyre's Account of the Virtues and the Virtue-Based Approach to Moral Decision-Making in Nursing Practice | p. 180 |
| Introduction | p. 180 |
| Nursing practice, narratives and morality | p. 180 |
| Nursing as a practice: Its internal goods and the virtues | p. 182 |
| The virtue-based approach as a tradition of enquiry | p. 186 |
| Conclusions | p. 186 |
| Conclusions | p. 187 |
| Introduction | p. 187 |
| Criticisms of the virtue-based approach to moral decision-making in nursing practice | p. 191 |
| Areas for further research and enquiry | p. 194 |
| Merits of the virtue-based approach to moral decision-making in nursing practice | p. 195 |
| Teaching the virtues | p. 197 |
| Conclusions | p. 199 |
| Notes | p. 201 |
| Bibliography | p. 224 |
| Index | p. 233 |
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