Year: 1991
Type: article
Abstract: disciplinary branch of ethics that has evolved in the last twenty years to study ethical, legal, and social issues raised in the life sciences, including medicine.My own tendency is to encourage "realism" in clinical ethics.Realism is intended in the usual meaning of "Be a realist," that is, be concerned to get the facts of the problem or case straight; to ascertain the patient's preferences; to identify the ethical problems in the context of the case; to weigh the merits of competing arguments and sets of interests against standards that arise from practical experience; and, in the most complex cases, to be able to accept a rough approximation of an ideal resolution after evaluating all of the real options-that is, realists are willing to compromise.Realism in ethics is wary of positions that are impracticable or overly theoretical, visionary, and sentimental.Moral conflicts are conflicts of desires, interests, and principles.These conflicts are very hard to unravel and understand.The purpose of theory in clinical ethics is to deepen and strengthen the understanding of such conflicts, but not to dominate or overwhelm the decisionmaking process.The most elemental purpose of morality itself is to protect human beings and other species from harm.The basic purpose of ethics (not morality, which is better understood as a kind of institution within institutions) is to protect human beings, societies, and other species from the harms that follow when real moral conflicts are avoided or obscured.Ethics is reflection that in-1991
Source: PubMed
Author: John C Fletcher
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4574076