The taboo zone.

Contemporary ethical debate about clinical practice centres primarily on the individual resolution of dilemmas, an approach which is incompatible with the social constructionist focus on human interdependence. Many constructionists argue that virtue ethics (VE) offers a more useful perspective on ethics than either consequentialism or deontology. From this perspective, the purpose of ethics is not to specify the right act in a particular situation, but to understand ethical and unethical practices conceptually, i.e. how these are learned, and how these contribute to and develop the ethical life in an ethical environment. Criticisms of VE are considered alongside discussion of its implications for clinical practice with people who have intellectual disability.

Ethics, Professional↗

PubMed2000

For debate: the virtuous public health physician.

This paper argues that although public health physicians have shown interest in ethical dilemmas relating to specific problems within the specialty, few have addressed the central ethical dilemma in public health, namely the conflict between the rights of the individual and the responsibilities of society for all its members. The paper reviews a number of public health programmes, where different approaches have been taken to this central dilemma. It then examines a number of schools of ethics, in an attempt to resolve the problem. Of these, only virtue ethics, perhaps supported by the insights of feminism and the ethics of care, appear to help with an irreconcilable conflict. The paper then makes an attempt to apply the concept of virtue ethics in public health medicine and to answer the question, 'what would a virtuous public health physician look like?' Finally, it lists some of the consequences of such an approach.

Ethics, Professional↗