Political Philosophy in Health Education

Political Philosophy of Healthcare

Political philosophy is a discipline that focuses on generating visions of what constitutes a good social life. By defining what ought to be the governing set of values and institutions, political philosophy addresses issues on how best to arrange collective life. As a result, political philosophy has permeated nearly every field including the health sector. Studies have been carried out to examine different aspects of political philosophy in terms of health issues. One such recent study was carried out by Martsolf & Thomas (2019) who examined how political philosophy can be integrated into health policy education. The study was conducted on the backdrop of the deep and widespread divisions in the health sector on public policy solutions to some of the most stubborn issues in healthcare. These researchers contend that health policy challenges are not exempted from such deep divisions as shown in debates on the Affordable Care Act.

Martsolf & Thomas (2019) state that political philosophy provides a suitable avenue for faculty in schools of nursing to prepare graduate nurses to participate in divisive public policy issues. In this regard, political philosophy will help graduate nurses to express the philosophical presuppositions underlying reasoning on health policy issues. This implies that political philosophy would enable graduate nurses to effectively communicate their views on health policy issues as well as the reasoning behind them. Therefore, debates on health policy issues would be enriched as graduate nurses articulate the philosophical presuppositions behind their views and arguments.

To demonstrate how political philosophy would help shape debates on health policy issues, Martsolf & Thomas (2019) identify four basic impulses or traditions underlying western political philosophies. These traditions are welfare, liberty, virtue, and revolution. Traditions or impulses that are based on welfare focus on maximizing pleasure or minimizing pain while liberty-based traditions emphasize the promotion and protection of individual liberties. On the other hand, virtue-based traditions promote cultural and moral pluralism by highlighting diversities while revolution-based impulses promote reconstitution through revolutionary social action. These researchers assert that the four distinct traditions or impulses of political philosophy can be used by graduate nurses when explaining their views regarding health policy issues. Each of these traditions/impulses represents a different perspective of political reasoning that can help shape debates on health policies.

For graduate students to effectively use the different traditions of political philosophy in their arguments, they should be trained. According to Martsolf & Thomas (2019), nurses need strong training in areas of public policy and political reasoning in order to enhance their abilities to navigate divisions that characterize health policies in a thoughtful and fair manner. Political philosophy enhances students’ grasp of philosophical presuppositions underlying health policy issues. Therefore, these researchers conclude that political philosophy provides an avenue for improving graduate nurses’ engagement in health policy debates.