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At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

What is morally distinctive about genetic engineering?

It sometimes seems that genetic engineering is suspect, both to its practitioners and to the general public, because it is perceived as being somehow unnatural. This essay argues, on the basis of an analysis of two senses of "natural," that there is nothing distinctively morally problematic about genetic engineering, at least on the grounds of its alleged unnaturalness. It does not follow that we cannot distinguish among morally legitimate and morally suspect uses of genetic engineering. But these distinctions can and should be drawn on the basis of the same considerations that enter into the evaluation of particular uses of any other medical procedure.

Ethical Analysis↗
PubMed1988

Studies in the explanation of issues in biomedical ethics: the example of abortion.

The variety of general issues and particular controversies in biomedical ethics can be understood as reflecting a deeper unity than normally supposed. The principle of plenitude and the paradigm of the "chain of Being" form the tie among the phenomena. They are defined, and their presence is tracked especially through some of the ideas and language in the debate about the ethics of abortion.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1989

Moral traditions, ethical language, and reproductive technologies.

The Vatican Instruction on reproductive technologies and the OTA report, Infertility, both use "rights" language to advance quite different views of the same subject matter. The former focuses on the rights and welfare of the embryo, and the protection of the family, while the latter stresses the freedom and rights of couples. This essay uses the work of Alasdair MacIntyre and Jeffrey Stout to consider the different traditions grounding these definitions of rights. It is proposed that a potentially effective mediating language could be that of "human nature", and argued that donor methods raise more serious moral objections than homologous ones.

Catholicism↗
PubMed1991

Who is entitled to double effect?

The doctrine of double effect continues to be an important tool in bioethical casuistry. Its role within the Catholic moral tradition continues, and there is considerable interest in it by contemporary moral philosophers. But problems of justification and correct application remain. I argue that if the traditional Catholic conviction that there are exceptionless norms prohibiting inflicting some kinds of harms on people is correct, then double effect is justified and necessary. The objection that double effect is superfluous is a rejection of that normative conviction, not a refutation of double effect itself. This justification suggests the correct way of applying double effect to controversial cases. But versions of double effect which dispense with the absolutism of the Catholic tradition lack justification and fall to the objection that double effect is an unnecessary complication.

Bioethical Issues↗
PubMed1991

Moral absolutism and the double-effect exception: reflections on Joseph Boyle's Who is entitled to double effect?

Joseph Boyle raises important questions about the place of the double-effect exception in absolutist moral theories. His own absolutist theory (held by many, but not all, Catholic moralists), which derives from the principles that fundamental human goods may not be intentionally violated, cannot dispense with such exceptions, although he rightly rejects some widely held views about what they are. By contrast, Kantian absolutist theory, which derives from the principle that lawful freedom must not be violated, has a corollary--that it is a duty, where possible, to coerce those who try to violate lawful freedom--which makes superfluous many of the double-effect exceptions Boyle allows. Other implications of the two theories are contrasted. Inter alia, it is argued that, in Boyle's theory, that a violation of a fundamental human good can be viewed as a cost proportionate to a benefit obtained, cannot yield a double-effect exception to the prohibition of intentionally violating that good, because paying a cost cannot be unintentional.

Bioethical Issues↗
PubMed1991

Four versions of double effect.

Recent discussions of the doctrine of double effect have contained improved versions of the doctrine not subject to some of the difficulties of earlier versions. There is no longer one doctrine of double effect. This essay evaluates four versions of the doctrine: two formulations of the traditional Catholic doctrine, Joseph Boyle's revision of that doctrine, and Warren Quinn's version of the doctrine. I conclude that all of these versions are flawed.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMed1983

Therapeutic homicide: a philosophic and Halakhic critique of Harris' 'survival lottery'.

In a well-known paper entitled, 'Survival Lottery', published in a philosophical journal, John Harris proposed for discussion an interesting idea for saving the lives of certain kinds of patients who are at the point of death. Let us assume that there are two such patients, one that could be saved by a heart transplant, and the other by the transplantation of a pair of lungs. However, no suitable organs are available for this purpose. Might it perhaps not be immoral to select, by national lottery, a healthy person, who would be sacrificed, his organs used as transplants, and thus two lives be saved through the sacrifice of only one? This proposal is subjected first to a critical philosophical and ethical analysis, and then to a critical analysis from the point of view of Jewish Ethics as embodied in Halakhah.

Ethical Analysis↗
PubMed1990

Using people.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Beginning of Human Life↗
PubMed1992

Quality of life and the death of "Baby M": a report from Australia.

... While it is no secret that Victorian doctors, like their American counterparts, are frequently making decisions that result in a severely disabled infant's death, they are making these decisions without public guidance, against the backdrop of laws and traditional ethical precepts which uphold in spirit (although, as we shall see, not always in practice) the traditional "sanctity of life" view. It will come as no surprise, therefore, that doctors and parents will occasionally find themselves in a situation where zealous defenders of an infant's "right to life" will turn to the law in an attempt to prevent what they see as immoral and unlawful decisions. This was the case recently in Melbourne, where a severely disabled infant was born on July 14, 1989 and died twelve days later, on July 26.

Australia↗