Why call this book a ‘workbook’? Isn't it more than that? In length and coverage alone, this is a full-fledged textbook, not what might seem a mere auxiliary teaching item. We are all experienced teachers of medical ethics and law, and this book embodies the pedagogic methods and strategies in which we believe. And while we are committed above all else to helping readers make up their own minds, we also have our own positions on the issues we raise, along with our own ‘take’ on the theoretical underpinnings of medical ethics. It is fair to say that we are much less utilitarian in our approach than the dominant trend in British bioethics, for example. So aren't we selling ourselves and the book short by trivializing it with the title of ‘workbook’?

What might seem a pedantic issue of nomenclature has preoccupied the authors since we began planning for a second edition of the Cambridge Medical Ethics Workbook as long ago as 2004. At least one reviewer of the first edition made the point we set out above, which provoked us into some very profitable discussions about our overall purpose, going well beyond the title issue. In the end we chose to retain the original name, on the principle that the book has enjoyed a very favourable reception under that title; but here at the start of the second edition, we want to point out that our ambitions and the book's ‘mission’ are considerably broader than the title ‘workbook’ may imply to some readers.