TY - JOUR T1 - Imaginary restrictions. JF - Journal of Medical Ethics JO - J Med Ethics SP - 171 LP - 175 DO - 10.1136/jme.24.3.171 VL - 24 IS - 3 AU - N Pickering Y1 - 1998/06/01 UR - http://jme.bmj.com/content/24/3/171.abstract N2 - The role of literature and imagination in medicine and medical ethics is currently under discussion. This paper argues that the role of literature is not to furnish generalisable examples for guidance. Rather, engagement with literature parallels moral engagement with other people. The work of the imagination, in this context, is not to hypothesise, but to grant life to the characters and world of literature. In doing this, one may develop one's moral life. ER -