DOCSLIB.ORG

Downloaded from Brill.Com09/30/2021 04:09:34AM Via Free Access

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Downloaded from Brill.Com09/30/2021 04:09:34AM Via Free Access Part Two HOW TO DO BIOETHICS? Veikko Launis - 9789042027404 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 04:09:34AM via free access Veikko Launis - 9789042027404 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 04:09:34AM via free access Four THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BIOETHICAL PRINCIPLES Veikko Launis If there is such a thing as the truth about the subject matter of ethics—the truth, we might say, about the ethical—why is there any expectation that it should be simple? In particular, why should it be conceptually simple, using only one or two ethical concepts, such as duty or good state of af- fairs, rather than many? Perhaps we need as many concepts to describe it as we find we need, and no fewer.1 1. Introduction: Metaphysical and Normative Lightness In the past two decades or so, a mode of theorizing commonly known as “prin- ciplism” or a “principle-based approach” has been the dominant approach in bioethics. As Donald C. Ainslie points out, the label “principlism” was origi- nally meant to be derogatory, but became embraced by its defenders.2 In the form it has come to be known, principlism is usually characterized by adopting a limited number of prima facie binding bioethical principles which are then individually specified and balanced against each other when a specific moral problem is discussed. The derivation of the principles, the number of princi- ples, and the specification and balancing methods differ depending on the in- terpretation.3 Though there are different principlist theories, principlism is most com- monly characterized by citing four so-called “midlevel” principles—respect for autonomy (the obligation to respect and promote the decision-making ca- pacities of autonomous individuals), nonmaleficence (the obligation to avoid the causation of harm), beneficence (the obligation to provide benefits and bal- ance benefits against risks), and justice (obligations of fairness and non- discrimination in the distribution of benefits and risks). The principles are called “midlevel principles,” since they are located below moral theories and above moral rules, the general idea being that principles follow from moral theories and, in turn, generate more specific rules that are then used to make moral judgments concerning particular cases.4 The idea is that these principles Veikko Launis - 9789042027404 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 04:09:34AM via free access 42 VEIKKO LAUNIS can (one way or another) provide the proper justificatory framework for bio- ethics and be used as a method for resolving bioethical issues. It is not surprising that principlism has so often been attacked by aca- demic philosophers and professional (clinical) bioethicists, because the term “midlevel” already in itself suggests a compromise between two key spheres of ethics—theory and practice. However, as Allen Buchanan, Dan Brock, Nor- man Daniels and Daniel Wikler have remarked, to a large extent the critics of principlism have been attacking a view “that is at worst a strawman and at best a vulgarization of the framework for analysis advanced most prominently by James Childress and Tom L. Beauchamp in various editions of their influential book Principles of Biomedical Ethics.”5 In this chapter, I will attempt to show that, if taken seriously, principlism can provide a defensible normative frame- work in bioethics. Because there is at present considerable controversy about the proper theory and methodology for bioethics, it would be unrealistic to hope to resolve these complex issues here.6 My modest aim is to raise certain philosophical questions about the (metaphysical and normative) adequacy and sufficiency of the principle-based approach. 2. The Varieties of Bioethical Problems The extent to which a bioethical issue can usefully be discussed by reference to midlevel principles depends, of course, on the kind of issue it is. For the pur- poses of the present discussion, four kinds of issues may be distinguished.7 Firstly, some issues are, or turn out to be, controversial largely because relevant empirical facts are in dispute. These may be called empirical ethical problems. A possible example of this category of issues is the question whether the development and cultivation of genetically modified crops should be permitted because of the risk they pose to the environment and people’s health. It should be no surprise that the contribution of moral philosophers to discussions of these issues is often very limited. Secondly, there are issues that may be characterized as conflicts between principles. A classic example would be the question as to whether a woman’s right to autonomy and self-protection overrides her unborn child’s (assumed) right to life in the case of abortion. Issues of this kind are genuine ethical prob- lems in the sense that the moral conflict may remain even when the empirical facts are clear and accepted by all parties involved in the disagreement. Thirdly, there are issues that are most properly called relevance or inter- pretation problems. These are characteristically raised by novel technologies and new scientific inventions. We may speak of a relevance problem when we are confronted with a new situation in which our traditional principles do not seem to apply very well and we are unable to see what features of the situation are relevant to its moral appraisal. To give an example, whether experiments in human reproductive cloning techniques should be permitted is largely a rele- Veikko Launis - 9789042027404 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 04:09:34AM via free access The Unbearable Lightness of Bioethical Principles 43 vance problem, because we do not know what is morally speaking involved in the development of such techniques. Finally, there are issues that may be characterized as demand-for-reason problems. There is a demand-for-reason problem when we consider a certain practice to be morally acceptable (for instance, using genetically modified mice as cancer models) or unacceptable (for instance, waiving the informed consent rule in the context biobanks) but are unable to specify on what morally relevant grounds it may be considered so, even though there is a morally justi- fiable demand for providing such a ground. These four categories are, of course, interconnected and may occur either simultaneously or in succession. To take an example, experiments in human reproductive cloning techniques may be seen to constitute a demand-for-reason problem as well, because such experiments are prohibited by common consent without there being any well-articulated moral ground for such a prohibition.8 As soon as such grounds can be articulated, objections to them will be raised and human cloning techniques are likely to constitute new empirical ethical problems as well as new conflicts between principles. 3. The Method How, then, can such problems be resolved? The above discussion suggests that there is no one thing we can do that is always central to solving an ethical problem for there is no one paradigmatic ethical problem.9 Nevertheless, something more constructive and more general needs to be said. The central methodological assumption here is that the coherentist view of moral justifica- tion offers the best guidance for bioethical issues. (There are also other meth- ods of moral justification within the principle-based approach.10) By coher- entism I mean the process of working back and forth between our considered moral judgments about particular situations and general moral rights and prin- ciples that cover these situations and help to explain our intuitive beliefs about them. (Considered moral judgments are judgments which we affirm with great confidence and without hesitation. Some such judgments are very specific, whereas others are more general. No matter how general, considered judg- ments are not to be seen as self-evident nor necessary truths, but as open to revision—and sometimes even rejection—in the process of reflection. Consid- ered moral judgments have some modest degree of epistemic priority simply because some sources of error and distortion, such as the agent’s being upset or frightened, have been eliminated from the deliberation process.) The key idea underlying this method is that “we test various parts of our system of moral beliefs against other parts of our general system of beliefs, seeking co- herence among the widest set of moral and nonmoral beliefs by revising and refining them at all levels.”11 For example, we might test the appropriateness of the informed consent doctrine in the context of human biobanks by asking Veikko Launis - 9789042027404 Downloaded from Brill.com09/30/2021 04:09:34AM via free access 44 VEIKKO LAUNIS whether we can accept its implications in this particular context and whether it accounts for the particular cases discussed within this context better than alter- native principles. Our considered moral judgments and beliefs about particular cases count in this process. Such judgments have justificatory weight for at least two rea- sons. Firstly, they can be referred to when applying more specific bioethical methods, such as reasoning by analogy and slippery slope arguments.12 Sec- ondly, they provide what Norman Daniels has called “provisional fixed points,” which makes them usable not only in the process of “testing” and re- formulating midlevel principles but also in attempts to resolve conflicts be- tween such principles. I take general philosophical reasoning (including metaphysics, philoso- phy of mind, rational decision-making, etc.) to be an elementary part of this method. Such reasoning is needed for example when we address the largely discussed question as to whether there is something morally special about ge- netic medical information as compared with non-genetic medical information. One answer to this question is the (partly) metaphysical claim that genetic in- formation is morally exceptional because genetic (disease) characteristics are more important to our “essential core identity” than non-genetic (disease) characteristics.13 The principle-based approach, according to the method sketched above, is not simply a list of midlevel principles, as the principlist caricature would have it.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • "On the Moral Relevance of Ignorance to Morality's Demands"
    3 On the Relevance of Ignorance to the Demands of Morality1 Geoffrey Sayre-McCord “It is impossible to overestimate the amount of stupidity in the world.” Bernard Gert2 Introduction In Morality, Bernard Gert argues that the fundamental demands of morality are well articulated by ten distinct, and relatively simple, rules. These rules, he holds, are such that any person, no matter what her circumstances or interests, would be rational in accepting, and guiding her choices by, them. The rules themselves are comfortably familiar (e.g. “Do not kill,” “Do not deceive,” “Keep your promises”) and sit well as intuitively plausible. Yet the rules are not, Gert argues, to be accepted merely because they are intuitively attractive, nor because they are already widely recognized, but because they stand as the only set of rules that can qualify as appropriately acceptable to all rational beings. Two questions naturally arise when confronted with a proposed account of morality’s standards. The first question is: Why believe the account is true? The second question is: Supposing it is true, what reason do people have to accept those standards as guides either for themselves or others? Before turning directly to the details of Gert’s defense of the rules and the accompanying answers he offers to these two questions, it is worth highlighting the different attitudes people have taken toward these questions and the relation answers to them might bear to one another. A fair number of people think that the two questions are completely inde- pendent. One question focuses on what morality demands while the other fo- cuses on the apparently distinct issue of whether, and why, one might rationally accept morality’s demands either as a standard for oneself or for others.
    [Show full text]
  • A Comparison of Two Bioethical Theories
    A Comparison of Two Bioethical Theories A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Gavin G. Enck June 2009 © 2009 Gavin G. Enck. All Rights Reserved. 2 This thesis titled A Comparison of Two Bioethical Theories by GAVIN G. ENCK has been approved for the Department of Philosophy and the College of Arts and Sciences by Arthur Zucker Associate Professor of Philosophy Benjamin M. Ogles Dean, College of Arts and Sciences 3 ABSTRACT ENCK, GAVIN G., M.A., June 2009, Philosophy A Comparison of Two Bioethical Theories (81 pp.) Director of Thesis: Arthur Zucker This thesis compares two bioethical theories in order to determine which theory is better for use by medical professionals. The two theories are Tom L. Beauchamp and James Childress’s “Principlism” and Bernard Gert, K. Danner Clouser, and Charles M. Culver’s “Moral Rules.” The structure of the paper is as follows: an explication of both theories, an examination of the similarities and differences between the theories, an evaluation of criticisms of both theories, and identification of the three advantages the Moral Rules theory has over Principlism. In the conclusion, I claim the Moral Rules is the better bioethical theory for the medical profession. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Arthur Zucker Associate Professor of Philosophy 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ..............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Ethical Challenges
    Ethical Challenges: Building an Ethics Toolkit by Deni Elliott AuthorHouse™ 1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200 Bloomington, IN 47403 www.authorhouse.com Phone: 1-800-839-8640 © 2009 Deni Elliott. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author. First published by AuthorHouse 1/16/2009 ISBN: 978-1-4343-8802-5 (sc) Library of Congress Control Number: 2008904456 Printed in the United States of America Bloomington, Indiana This book is printed on acid-free paper. Dedicated to my real-life sister, Debbie, and to my spiritual sisters Allison, Rose, and Pam, all of whom keep me nourished with their love. v An Introduction to Ethical Challenges Right and wrong. Good and bad. What may I do? What must I do? Which is the best thing to do? Every thinking person grapples with these issues. But most people make their choices haphazardly and hope that things will turn out okay. There is a better way. When people think about the different components involved in ethical decision making, they tend to become better at making tough choices. Their decision making improves in three ways: clarity, consistency, and completeness. Clarity means that people can describe what they are choosing in specific situations and why. It is good to be able to explain one’s choices. Saying, “I did what I felt like doing,” is not an adequate explanation if someone else is suffering because of your choice. If you can explain your reasoning to yourself, you are in a better position to examine the adequacy of your choice and determine how you might want to do things differently in the future.
    [Show full text]
  • Consistency, Common Morality, and Reflective Equilibrium
    BRAND-BALLARD • CONSISTENCY, COMMON MORALITY, REFLECTIVE EQUILIBRIUM Jeffrey Brand-Ballard Consistency, Common Morality, and Reflective Equilibrium ABSTRACT. Biomedical ethicists often assume that common morality consti- tutes a largely consistent normative system. This premise is not taken for granted in general normative ethics. This paper entertains the possibility of inconsistency within common morality and explores methodological implications. Assuming common morality to be inconsistent casts new light on the debate between principlists and descriptivists. One can view the two approaches as complemen- tary attempts to evade or transcend that inconsistency. If common morality proves to be inconsistent, then principlists might have reason to prefer a less pluralistic theory, thereby moving closer to descriptivism. Descriptivists, by contrast, might want to qualify their claim to accommodate all of people’s basic moral convic- tions. Finally, both camps might wish to adopt a more revisionist posture, ac- cepting that an adequate ethical theory occasionally will contradict some of people’s deepest moral convictions. Proper application of the method of reflec- tive equilibrium, to which both descriptivists and principlists claim allegiance, may entail greater openness to revisionism than either camp admits. ne of the liveliest theoretical debates in biomedical ethics re- mains the controversy between “principlists” and O “descriptivists.” In recent years, representatives of the two fac- tions have found some common ground (Beauchamp 1995, pp. 188–90; Gert, Culver, and Clouser 1997, pp. 89–90). Yet each faction continues to insist that the competing approach is flawed, and inferior to its own (Beauchamp and Childress 2001; Gert, Culver, and Clouser 1997). I offer what I expect to be a controversial perspective on this debate.
    [Show full text]
  • The Theory of Common Morality of Bernard Gert
    See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335875979 The Theory of Common Morality of Bernard Gert Article · August 2019 DOI: 10.26512/rbb.v15i1.26866 CITATIONS READS 0 17 3 authors: Flávio Rocha Lima Paranhos Volnei Garrafa Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás (PUC Goiás) University of Brasília 27 PUBLICATIONS 134 CITATIONS 217 PUBLICATIONS 1,059 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Jan Helge Solbakk University of Oslo 79 PUBLICATIONS 633 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Persistents Situation in Bioethics View project Conceptual Basis of Bioethics View project All content following this page was uploaded by Flávio Rocha Lima Paranhos on 25 September 2019. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Artigo Original Paranhos, Garrafa, Solbakk. Rev Bras Bioética 2019;15(e2):1-14 The Theory of Common Morality of Bernard Gert A Teoria da Moralidade Comum de Bernard Gert Resumo: Tom L. Beauchamp e James F. Childress têm lançado mão de forma crescente de uma teoria moral conhecida como “teoria da moralidade comum” como base filosófica para a sua abordagem de quatro princípios para a ética biomédica, atualmente conhecida como principialismo. Na última edição (2013) de seus Principles of Biomedical Ethics, os autores reconhecem a contribuição de alguns teóricos anteriores da moralidade comum. Bernard Gert, um crítico do principialismo, é um deles. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar uma análise crítica da teoria da moralidade comum de Gert, desenvolvida em seu livro Common Morality. Deciding Flávio R. L. Paranhos What to Do (2004).
    [Show full text]
  • Just Consequentialism and Computing
    Ethics and Information Technology 1: 65–69, 1999. © 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Just consequentialism and computing James H. Moor Department of Philosophy, Dartmouth College, NH, USA. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract. Computer and information ethics, as well as other fields of applied ethics, need ethical theories which coherently unify deontological and consequentialist aspects of ethical analysis. The proposed theory of just consequentialism emphasizes consequences of policies within the constraints of justice. This makes just consequentialism a practical and theoretically sound approach to ethical problems of computer and information ethics. Introduction instance of a policy – in this kind of situation such and such action is allowed or required or forbidden. The malleability of computers allows them to be Understanding actions as exemplars of more general used in novel and unexpected ways, ways for which normative prescriptions promotes responsibility and we frequently do not have formulated policies for more careful reflection on conduct. The word “policy” controlling their use.1 Advancing computer techno- is intended to suggest both that there can be justified logy produces policy vacuums in its wake. And exemptions (policies are not absolute rules) and a level even when relevant policies do exist, they are often of obligation (policies are not mere suggestions). ambiguous or inadequate as they were designed for We want our policies for computing to be ethical, times with a less versatile technology than computing. but what should we look for when constructing ethical A basic job of computer ethics is to identify these computing policies? When we turn to traditional policy needs, clarify related conceptual confusions, ethical theories for help we discover a strong rivalry formulate appropriate new policies, and ethically exists between the leading contenders – consequen- justify them.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is Deontology?, Part One: Orthodox Views Gerald F. Gaus
    What is Deontology?, Part One: Orthodox Viewsa Gerald F. Gaus 1. Introduction Current moral philosophy is often seen as essentially a debate between the two great traditions of consequentialism and deontology. Although there has been considerable work clarifying consequentialism, deontology is more often attacked or defended than analyzed. Just how we are to understand the very idea of a deontological ethic? We shall see that competing conceptions of deontology have been advanced in recent ethical thinking, leading to differences in classifying ethical theories. If we do not focus on implausible versions, the idea of a deontological ethic is far more attractive than most philosophers have thought. Indeed, I shall argue that in an important sense, only a deontological ethic can be plausible. 2. Deontology as the Non-teleological Most commentators follow William Frankena in characterizing deontology as the class of non- teleological theories. “Deontological theories deny what teleological theories affirm.”1 It is widely agreed that a theory is teleological if it justifies the right, moral duty, or obligation, on the a Journal of Value Inquiry, vol. 35 (2001): 27-42. grounds that it promotes what is good. This, though, is vague. If we are to understand this characterization of deontology, we need to be clearer about the idea of teleology. Because philosophers disagree about precisely what teleology affirms, we confront different accounts of deontology. One interpretation of this orthodox formulation is suggested by Jeffrey Reiman: Teleological
    [Show full text]
  • Supererogation and Duty in Immanuel Kant's Ethical Framework
    UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH CONFERENCE FINAL PAPER Can Kant Accommodate Supererogation? * Supererogation and Duty in Immanuel Kant’s Ethical Framework Submitted by: Mark Andrew Joseph Senior: English and Philosophy University of New Hampshire 7828 Granite Square Station Durham, NH 03824 (603) 295-1108 Faculty Mentor: Paul McNamara Associate Professor in Philosophy Department of Philosophy University of New Hampshire 14 Hamilton-Smith Hall Durham, NH 03824 (603) 862-4215 Date: May 13, 2006 I. “Supererogation is the technical term for the class of actions that go ‘beyond the call of Comment [REE1]: It’s a good rule of 1 thumb to only use quotes for things you duty’” (Heyd 2002, 1). Intuitively, common sense recognizes supererogation: oftentimes peoplecan’t say just as easily yourself. This first line smacks of laziness: you gotta express your introduction in your own words! “engage in praiseworthy behavior where they do more than they have to do, morally speaking” This line from Heyd is simply a canned definition of supererogation: give your own canned def! 2 (McNamara 2004, 1). These supererogatory actions, “good, but not obligatory, to do” (Chisholm Comment [REE2]: Same comment as above: surely you can express this in your 1963, 5), customarily exemplify human beings at their very best.3 J.O. Urmson, in his seminal articleown words. Comment [REE3]: Here I think you can keep the quotation marks and simply “Saints and Heroes,” characterized these laudable actions with his example of a doctor “who, nodrop the citation altogether – it’s unnecessary. differently situated from countless other doctors in other places, volunteers to join the depleted Comment [REE4]: I won’t mention this again, but even here the use of the medical forces” (Urmson 1958, 62) of a plague-ridden city.
    [Show full text]
  • Being Aristotelian: Using Virtue Ethics in an Applied Media Ethics Course Wendy N
    University of St. Thomas, Minnesota UST Research Online Communication and Journalism Faculty Communication and Journalism Publications 2008 Being Aristotelian: Using Virtue Ethics in an Applied Media Ethics Course Wendy N. Wyatt University of St. Thomas, Minnesota, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://ir.stthomas.edu/cas_cojo_pub Part of the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, and the Mass Communication Commons Recommended Citation Wyatt, Wendy N., "Being Aristotelian: Using Virtue Ethics in an Applied Media Ethics Course" (2008). Communication and Journalism Faculty Publications. 1. http://ir.stthomas.edu/cas_cojo_pub/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication and Journalism at UST Research Online. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication and Journalism Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UST Research Online. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Page 1 Being Aristotelian: Using virtue ethics in an applied media ethics course This essay explores the tendency of undergraduate media ethics students to do what Bernard Gert calls “morality by slogans” and their tendency to misuse Aristotle’s golden mean slogan. While not solving the dilemma of morality by slogans, the essay suggests some ways of rectifying the misuse of the golden mean and encouraging its more authentic application. Any professor of media ethics knows the dangers of teaching ethical theory to undergraduates. In 15 weeks or fewer, students work not only to develop skills in ethical analysis—in which theory is only one part—but they also explore recurring moral issues, they reflect on what they can do to make their profession better, and they think about their roles and responsibilities as media consumers.
    [Show full text]
  • Law, Humanities and Equipoise in the Ethics Education of Physician Assistants
    A Peer Reviewed Publication of the College of Allied Health & Nursing at Nova Southeastern University Dedicated to allied health professional practice and education http://ijahsp.nova.edu Vol. 4 No. 2 ISSN 1540-580X Law, Humanities and Equipoise in the Ethics Education of Physician Assistants Frederick Adolf Paola, M.D., J.D. Affiliate Associate Professor of Medicine Division of Medical Ethics & Humanities University of South Florida College of Medicine Citation: Paoloa, F. Law, Humanities and Equipoise in the Ethics Education of Physician Assistants. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice. Apr 2006, Volume 4 Number 2. Abstract The humanities have been defined as a group of academic subjects united by a commitment to studying aspects of the human condition and a qualitative approach that generally prevents a single paradigm from coming to define any discipline. In the medical humanities context, the most quickly growing area is the field of literature and medicine. The use of literature in bioethics education plays a number of well-recognized educational roles. Herein, we argue that the law is relatively overemphasized in bioethics education and that one heretofore ignored yet important role of the humanities is to serve as a counterbalance to the pernicious influence of legal hegemony in the field of bioethics. In the process, we consider the special circumstances surrounding the fields of philosophy and jurisprudence; we discuss the 1998 American Society for Bioethics and Humanities “Core Competencies” report; and we use examples (drawn from teaching materials employed at the University of South Florida College of Medicine and Nova Southeastern University’s Naples-based Physician Assistant Program) to contrast the law’s narrowness with the richness and ambiguity of the humanities.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy 3G03E: Ethics September-December 2009 Instructor: Dr
    Philosophy 3G03E: Ethics September-December 2009 Instructor: Dr. D. L. Hitchcock Lectures: Tuesdays 19:00 to 20:50, Arthur Bourns Building (ABB) 163 Optional tutorials: Tuesdays 21:00 to 21:50, ABB 163 Instructor’s office hours: Wed 14:00 to 15:00, or by appointment, in University Hall (UH) 304 Instructor’s e-mail address: [email protected] Course Web site: ELM Teaching assistant: Ben Hamby TA’s e-mail address: [email protected] TA’s office hours: Tues 18:00 to 18:50, or by appointment, in UH B106A This course is "an introduction to the major types of ethical theory and the problem of their justification" (Undergraduate Calendar description). We will consider the two currently most influential ethical theories, as well as a contemporary ethical theory that includes a critique of them: 1) Immanuel Kant's apparently deontological theory, articulated in the various formulations of his "categorical imperative" and justified by an appeal to the autonomy of a rational agent 2) John Stuart Mill's consequentialist theory of utilitarianism, expressed by his "principle of utility" and justified by the claim that all human beings ultimately desire only happiness 3) Bernard Gert's mixed theory of "common morality", consisting of 10 defeasible moral rules, a set of moral ideals, and a two-step procedure for justifying violations of the moral rules; and justified as a system that, given certain conditions, it is rationally required for all moral agents to endorse Objectives: On completion of the course, you should be able to: 1) describe, apply and discuss critically the ethical theories of Kant, Mill and Gert.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernard Gert Moral Disagreement Concerning Abortion
    Bernard Gert Moral disagreement concerning abortion Diametros nr 26, 23-43 2010 Diametros № 26 (December 2010): 23-43 MORAL DISAGREEMENT CONCERNING ABORTION 1 - Bernard Gert - Introduction Even though it is seldom explicitly stated, it seems to be a common phi- losophical view that either every moral question has a unique correct answer or that none of them do. Since it is obvious that some moral questions, e.g., “Is it morally acceptable to torture a person for the enjoyment of sadists?” have unique correct answers, some philosophers seem to hold that even the most controversial moral questions have unique correct answers. This may explain why some phi- losophers think that they can resolve the question about the moral acceptability of abortion. Many philosophers do not even consider the view that although most moral questions have unique correct answers some do not. Our common morality does not resolve every moral problem, for not every moral problem can be re- solved. A moral theory should describe our common morality and try to justify it by showing that all equally informed rational persons would support it. The proper tasks for a moral theory are to explain both why there is moral agreement about the answers to the overwhelming majority of moral questions, and why there is moral disagreement concerning the answers to a small but important number of moral questions. The overwhelming agreement on most moral matters is obscured by the fact that there is very little discussion of these uncontrover- sial matters and a great deal of discussion about the small number of controversial issues.
    [Show full text]