Why Is it so Difficult to Challenge the Bioethics Status Quo?
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Why Is it so Difficult to Challenge the Bioethics Status Quo?

My effort to add critical thinking to bioethics, a choppy path at best, sparked me to question some fundamentals about academic publishing. From long ago on the Urban Law Journal at Fordham Law School to my current position at Voices in Bioethics, Columbia University’s journal, I have encountered and managed viewpoint discrimination. In training peer…

Challenges to the Moral Expertise Behind the Four Principles Approach: The “collective is not the patient”

Challenges to the Moral Expertise Behind the Four Principles Approach: The “collective is not the patient”

In The “New” Medical Morality: Hippocrates or Bioethics? Jeffrey Hall Dobken writes, “…the neo-discipline of bioethics must be examined for moral effectiveness as well as clinical outcome.” By examining whose “needs and interests” are served by bioethics, Dobken criticizes the marginalization of both the doctor and patient voice. Dobken also questions the four principles and…

Is Bioethics “One-Directional”? Influences on Moral Theory

Is Bioethics “One-Directional”? Influences on Moral Theory

The practical situation can inform the ethics to some degree. Yet bioethics seems one directional, using theory to generate rules. Then, the rules are applied in clinical situations. Some argue for reflective equilibrium (situations influencing principles, i.e., the process of reflecting on and then revising philosophies) as a component of bioethics. Reflective equilibrium prevents certain…

Adding to Bioethical Analysis

Adding to Bioethical Analysis

Welcome to Modern Bioethics. I have pulled together articles and books covering broad topics to demonstrate the methods and frameworks in place for analyzing traditional and new issues in bioethics. I also highlight the shortfalls of some known frameworks and offer inclusive frameworks or necessary add-ons in some cases. By curating a collection that includes…