Abstract
The existence of a plurality of ethical perspectives based on the presence of diverse religions and worldviews in contemporary society can make it hard to reach consensus on ethical issues in healthcare. Not only do religion and worldview influence attitudes, practices, and policies in healthcare. Racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious stereotypes and biases based on the assumption that people of a different social group are hard or even impossible to comprehend may obstruct dialogue and lead to inequalities and disparities in healthcare. In this context, moral relativism, which claims that, all moral viewpoints being equal, they can only be assessed from their own particular perspective, does not offer solutions and only reconfirms the impossibility of moral dialogue. The idea of common morality offers a way out of this deadlock by providing a common language on the basis of which normative ethical discussion in healthcare becomes possible. Differences may remain at the level of particular moralities. The common morality creates an atmosphere in which empathetic understanding of other ethical perspectives is enabled. In the case of ethical conflict, this offers an opportunity to search for creative solutions that are acceptable to all parties involved.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
al-Mousawi, M., T. Hamed, and H. al-Matouk. 1997. Views of Muslim Scholars on Organ Donation and Brain Death. Transplant Proceedings 29 (8): 3217.
Arras, J.D. 2009. The Hedgehog and the Borg: Common Morality in Bioethics. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 30 (1): 11–30.
Azambuja, L.E.O.d., and V. Garrafa. 2015. A teoria da moralidade comum na obra de Beauchamp e Childress. Revista Bioética 23: 634–644.
Baeke, G., J.P. Wils, and B. Broeckaert. 2011a. Orthodox Jewish Perspectives on Withholding and Withdrawing Life-Sustaining Treatment. Nursing Ethics 18 (6): 835–846.
———. 2011b. ‘There Is a Time to Be Born and a Time to Die’ (Ecclesiastes 3:2a): Jewish Perspectives on Euthanasia. Journal of Religion and Health 50 (4): 778–795.
Beauchamp, T.L., and J.F. Childress. 2009. Principles of Biomedical Ethics. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bradshaw, A. 1996. The Spiritual Dimension of Hospice. The Secularization of an Ideal. Social Science & Medicine 43 (3): 409–419.
Broeckaert, B., J. Gielen, T. Van Iersel, and S. Van den Branden. 2009. Palliative Care Physicians’ Religious/World View and Attitude Towards Euthanasia: A Quantitative Study Among Flemish Palliative Care Physicians. Indian Journal of Palliative Care 15 (1): 41–50.
Chattopadhyay, S., and A. Simon. 2008. East Meets West: Cross-Cultural Perspective in End-of-Life Decision Making from Indian and German Viewpoints. Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy 11 (2): 165–174.
Clark, D. 2001. Religion, Medicine, and Community in the Early Origins of St. Christopher’s Hospice. Journal of Palliative Medicine 4 (3): 353–360.
DeGrazia, D. 2003. Common Morality, Coherence, and the Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 13 (3): 219–230.
Durkheim, E. 1995. The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. Trans. K.E. Fields. New York: Free Press.
Gielen, J., S. van den Branden, and B. Broeckaert. 2009. Religion and Nurses’ Attitudes to Euthanasia and Physician Assisted Suicide. Nursing Ethics 16 (3): 303–318.
Kalantri, S.P. 2000. Informed Consent in Public Hospitals. Issues in Medical Ethics 8 (4): 116–117.
Macklin, R. 1999. Against Relativism: Cultural Diversity and the Search for Ethical Universals in Medicine. New York: Oxford University Press.
Raj, E.H. 2012. The Changing Scenario in Oncologist-Patient Communication: We Need to Adapt… …The Cherny Article Reviewed. Oncology 26 (1): 48–55.
Raja, K. 2007. Patients’ Perspectives on Medical Information: Results of an Informal Survey. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 4 (1): 16–17.
Sachedina, A. 2005. End-of-Life. The Islamic View. Lancet 366: 774–779.
Sanwal, A.K., S. Kumar, P. Sahni, and S. Nundy. 1996. Informed Consent in Indian Patients. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 89 (4): 196–198.
Sisk, B., R. Frankel, E. Kodish, and J. Harry Isaacson. 2016. The Truth About Truth-Telling in American Medicine: A Brief History. The Permanente Journal 20 (3): 74–77.
Smedley, B.D., A.Y. Stith, and A.R. Nelson, eds. 2002. Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Suggested Readings
Suggested Readings
The following book by Ruth Macklin provides a critical analysis of cultural relativism and possible responses to it.
-
Macklin, R. 1999. Against Relativism: Cultural Diversity and the Search for Ethical Universals in Medicine. New York: Oxford University Press.
In the field of bioethics, the common morality theory has been most influentially defended by Tom L. Beauchamp, James F. Childress, and Bernard Gert. In the current article, we analyzed the practical implications of common morality. Readers interested in its theoretical justification will find this in the following works.
-
Beauchamp, T.L., and Childress, J.F. 2009. Principles of Biomedical Ethics. New York/Oxford: Oxford University Press.
-
Gert, B., Culver, C.M., and Clouser, K.D. 2006. Bioethics: A Systematic Approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gielen, J. (2020). Bioethics in Secular, Pluralistic Society. In: Gielen, J. (eds) Dealing with Bioethical Issues in a Globalized World . Advancing Global Bioethics, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30432-4_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30432-4_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-30431-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-30432-4
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)