Principlism and communitarianism

Abstract

The decline in the interest in ethical theory is first outlined, as a background to the author’s discussion of principlism. The author’s own stance, that of a communitarian philosopher, is then described, before the subject of principlism itself is addressed. Two problems stand in the way of the author’s embracing principlism: its individualistic bias and its capacity to block substantive ethical inquiry. The more serious problem the author finds to be its blocking function. Discussing the four scenarios the author finds that the utility of principlism is shown in the two scenarios about Jehovah’s Witnesses but that when it comes to selling kidneys for transplantation and germline enhancement, principlism is of little help.

What Is “African Bioethics” as Used by Sub-Saharan African Authors: An Argumentative Literature Review of Articles on African Bioethics

“…This may be correct, but one needs to compare the communalism as thought of by Callahan (Callahan, 2003) to that expressed by the authors reviewed in the article, there are obvious variations. Others have argued that there is a promising territory of theoretical African moral epistemology not yet fully explored, which may contribute to the thought that there is no such African theory, hence the imposition of Western bioethical normative thinking on Africa (Metz, 2010).…”

Using Kantian Ethics in Medical Ethics Education

“…The ethical system has significant appeal in terms of its accessibility, its seemingly cross-cultural generalizability, flexibility, and potential for nuance through vigorous examination of the principles. Yet, from a pragmatic perspective, it suffers from a number of limitations that render it problematic as the crux upon which most of medical education relies [4][5][6][7][8]14].…”

Bioética narrativa y salud intercultural mapuche: Aportes a su fundamentación y complementación

“…A pesar de su amplio reconocimiento y utilización, este enfoque ha sido criticado desde planteamientos casuísticos, procedimentalistas, kantianos, utilitaristas, comunitaristas y desde las éticas del cuidado y de las virtudes (Toulmin, 1981;Clouser & Gert, 1990;Rubinstein, 1996;Elliot, 1998;Callahan, 2003;Harris, 2003). Por este motivo diversos autores afines al principialismo, como Gillon & Lloyd (1996) y J. C. Siurana (2010), han reconocido la necesidad de explorar su complementación con otros enfoques, con la finalidad de afinar su pertinencia cultural y evitar el universalismo acrítico en su aplicación.…”