James Nelson is a philosophy professor and bioethicist currently teaching at Michigan State University

Michigan State University

Michigan State University is a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. Founded in 1855, it was the pioneer land-grant institution and served as a model for future land-grant colleges in the United States under the 1862 Morrill Act.MSU pioneered the studies of packaging,...

. Nelson earned his doctorate in philosophy at the State University of New York

State University of New York

The State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...

 at Buffalo in 1980 and taught at the University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...

 at Knoxville and St. John's University before moving to Michigan State University. In addition, Nelson was an Associate for Ethical Studies at The Hastings Center from 1990–95 and is both a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow and a Fellow of the Hastings Center. Nelson currently teaches courses on biomedical ethics, ethical theory, moral psychology, feminist theory, and philosophy of language.

Contributions to Philosophy

Nelson's work primarily focuses on biomedical ethics, ethical theory, moral psychology, feminist theory, applied philosophy, and philosophy of language. In addition to numerous publications, Nelson edited both Rationing Sanity: Ethical Issues in Managed Mental Health Care and Meaning and Medicine: A Reader in the Philosophy of Health Care with Hilde Lindemann

Hilde Lindemann

Hilde Lindemann is a philosophy professor and well known bioethicist currently teaching at Michigan State University. Lindemann earned her M.A. at the University of Georgia in theatre history and dramatic literature before going on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy at Fordham University in 2000...

 Nelson. In addition, Nelson is the editor for the Rowman and Littlefield series entitled Explorations in Bioethics and the Medical Humanities, the co-editor, with Hilde Lindemann Nelson, for the Reflective Bioethics series published by Routledge, and the editor of the Journal of Clinical Ethics Special Section on Families and Bioethics.

Professional Publications

Nelson has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in journals such as The Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, Metaphilosophy, The Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal, Journal of Clinical Ethics, Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, The Hastings Center Report, and The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy.

His books include Hippocrates’ Maze: Ethical Explorations of the Medical Labyrinth, Alzheimer's: Answers to Hard Questions for Families, and The Patient in the Family. In addition, as remarked above, Nelson has also edited five collections including Rationing Sanity: Ethical Issues in Managed Mental Health Care, Meaning and Medicine: A Reader in the Philosophy of Health Care and the book series Explorations in Bioethics and the Medical Humanities.

Awards and Distinctions

In addition to being named a Hastings Center Fellow and a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, Nelson also received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to conduct a Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers entitled “Bioethics in Particular.” In addition, Nelson won an Outstanding Faculty Award from the Department of Philosophy at The University of Tennessee and the Senior Research and Creative Achievement Award from the College of Arts and Sciences. He was also awarded a Greenwall Foundation Grant for a research project on ethical issues in family caregiving for people suffering from progressive dementias and a Joint National Science Foundation/National Institutes of Health Grant for a research program on ethical issues in “exemplary” medical research.”

Selected Works

Lindemann Nelson, James. Hippocrates’ Maze: Ethical Explorations of the Medical Labyrinth (Lanham, Md: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003)

Lindemann Nelson, James. Rationing Sanity: Ethical Issues in Managed Mental Health Care (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2003)

Lindemann Nelson, James and Linemann Nelson, Hilde. Meaning and Medicine: A Reader in the Philosophy of Health Care (New York: Routledge, 1999)

Lindemann Nelson, James and Lindemann Nelson, Hilde. Alzheimer's: Answers to Hard Questions for Families (New York: Doubleday, 1996).

Lindemann Nelson, James and Lindemann Nelson, Hilde. The Patient in the Family (New York: Routledge, 1995).

Rationing Sanity: Ethical Issues in Managed Mental Health Care ed James Nelson. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2003

Meaning and Medicine: A Reader in the Philosophy of Health Care ed. James Nelson and Hilde Lindemann Nelson New York: Routledge, 1999

See also

American Philosophy

American Philosophers