Ethics, moral practices and age-related social issues in late 18th-century medical discourse: A lexicological and textual approach

The second half of the eighteenth-century is particularly interesting for the study of medicine, and medical practice. The professional role of physicians, their social function, and their moral duties necessarily became a key issue for the period under scrutiny, and for decades to come. Medical ethics and moral practices, as well as philanthropic attitudes, constituted a relevant topic in medical writing: John Gregory (1724–73; Edinburgh University) and Thomas Percival (1740–1804; Manchester Infirmary) were the pioneers of medical ethics ‘in the making’. The aim of this study is to investigate the lexis of medical ethics and moral practices and its impact at textual and discourse levels. In other words, how the lexicalisation of values and principles shapes and frames the discourse on medical ethics, and on the social identity of target people-patients of all ages (old, young, middle-aged), as well as potentially age-related discriminatory practices between the 1770s and 1800s.