Regimon Cherian
Member of the research training group 'Bioethics'
E-Mail: regimon.cherian@izew.uni-tuebingen.de
rexmattis@gmail.com
PhD-Thesis
Commercialization, Corporate Social Responsibility and the Biomedical Industry: A Smithian Perspective.
These days many question the ethics of healthcare embracing a market orientation. The decreasing number of not-for-profit institutions in health care is seen as a sign of lack of virtue in the society. Many scholars argue that the practices of the market must be subordinated to the goal of universal health care as free-market fails to promote just medicine (Callahan, Daniels). Some others debate whether health is a commodity or a special human good (Pellegrino, Segall). I argue that considering the comparative efficiency of the market, healthcare does not have to be awarded any special status, provided the government has the political will to correct the market failures. A market economy that provides for people only in relation to their willingness and ability to pay, and not in relation to their basic needs, fails to take into account the inter-individual variations or inequalities in the resources [primary goods people hold (John Rawls) or the functionings and capabilities people can achieve with the resources they have (Amartya Sen)]. No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable (Adam Smith). Justice and fairness may be achieved only through conscious, purposeful and effective affirmative actions (Martha Nussbaum). Unlike the misinterpretations of the neoclassic economists, founders of free market did not encourage absolute free market, but a virtuous society with the government regulating the control-averse market and the market regulating the control freak government. From Rousseau and Smith to contemporary scholars, many have pointed out the impact of commercialization, including its effect on the character of moral agents.
Biography
I just received my M Phil from the Institute of Philosophy, KU Leuven, Belgium. In 2007-2008, I earned MA in Business Ethics from Linkoping University, Sweden. In 2006-2007 I did an MA in Bioethics, in KU Leuven, Belgium. In 2001 I received my MBA with specializations in Marketing and Human Resource Management from Bangalore University, India. Following my MBA, I had been a lecturer of Business Administration in Kerala, India from 2001-2005. My bachelor degrees are in Philosophy and Theology.