A Certain Kind of Wisdom In Plato's Apology, the Greek philosopher Socrates is on trial to defend himself against the allegation of corrupting the youth of Athens. Socrates denies this charge and offers an alternate reason for why he is on trial. He explains, " w]hat has caused my reputation is none other than a certain kind of wisdom. What kind of wisdom? Human wisdom, perhaps(1). " He proceeds to tell the story of his friend Chaerophon, who once asked the Oracle at Delphi whether there was anyone wiser than Socrates. The Oracle answered that there was not. Socrates did not agree and thought that he would try to prove the Oracle wrong. And so he set about seeking out Athenians with a reputation for wisdom in various regards in order to test their claims to knowledge through questioning. He discovered many with false claims to knowledge and none with genuine wisdom and ultimately concluded that he was the wisest. He reached this conclusion not because of any special knowledge he possessed that others did not, but rather because he recognized his own lack of knowledge and strived to learn more, while others thought that they were kno- edgeable but were not. Socrates' conclusion that there is wisdom in recognizing the limitations of accepted knowledge represents the motivation for this book.

A comprehensive survey on the use of bedside skills and perimetric devices to the test visual fields, and how to interpret the results. To develop the clinician's interpretative skills, the authors include a chapter on visual anatomy and an atlas of 100 real-life cases arranged in anatomic order from retina to striate cortex. By placing a brief clinical vignette with a visual field on one side of the page and a description of the field and its causal lesion on the opposite side, the reader will be able to learn interpretation in a simulated clinical setting. An additional quiz section of twenty randomly arranged visual fields provides readers with an opportunity to test their newly acquired skills.

Surgery inevitably inflicts some harm on the body. At the very least, it damages the tissue that is cut. These harms often are clearly outweighed by the overall benefits to the patient. However, where the benefits do not outweigh the harms or where they do not clearly do so, surgical interventions become morally contested. Cutting to the Core examines a number of such surgeries, including infant male circumcision and cutting the genitals of female children, the separation of conjoined twins, surgical sex assignment of intersex children and the surgical re-assignment of transsexuals, limb and face transplantation, cosmetic surgery, and placebo surgery. When, if ever, do the benefits of these surgeries outweigh their costs? May a surgeon perform dangerous procedures that are not clearly to the patient's benefit, even if the patient consents to them? May a surgeon perform any surgery on a minor patient if there are no clear benefits to that child? These and other related questions are the core themes of this collection of essays.

A Certain Kind of Wisdom In Plato's Apology, the Greek philosopher Socrates is on trial to defend himself against the allegation of corrupting the youth of Athens. Socrates denies this charge and offers an alternate reason for why he is on trial. He explains, " w]hat has caused my reputation is none other than a certain kind of wisdom. What kind of wisdom? Human wisdom, perhaps(1). " He proceeds to tell the story of his friend Chaerophon, who once asked the Oracle at Delphi whether there was anyone wiser than Socrates. The Oracle answered that there was not. Socrates did not agree and thought that he would try to prove the Oracle wrong. And so he set about seeking out Athenians with a reputation for wisdom in various regards in order to test their claims to knowledge through questioning. He discovered many with false claims to knowledge and none with genuine wisdom and ultimately concluded that he was the wisest. He reached this conclusion not because of any special knowledge he possessed that others did not, but rather because he recognized his own lack of knowledge and strived to learn more, while others thought that they were kno- edgeable but were not. Socrates' conclusion that there is wisdom in recognizing the limitations of accepted knowledge represents the motivation for this book.

Surgery inevitably inflicts some harm on the body. At the very least, it damages the tissue that is cut. These harms often are clearly outweighed by the overall benefits to the patient. However, where the benefits do not outweigh the harms or where they do not clearly do so, surgical interventions become morally contested. Cutting to the Core examines a number of such surgeries, including infant male circumcision and cutting the genitals of female children, the separation of conjoined twins, surgical sex assignment of intersex children and the surgical re-assignment of transsexuals, limb and face transplantation, cosmetic surgery, and placebo surgery. When, if ever, do the benefits of these surgeries outweigh their costs? May a surgeon perform dangerous procedures that are not clearly to the patient's benefit, even if the patient consents to them? May a surgeon perform any surgery on a minor patient if there are no clear benefits to that child? These and other related questions are the core themes of this collection of essays.