Moral Theories vs. Moral Perspectives: The Need for a New Strategy for Bioethical Exploration

Abstract

There is a puzzle in contemporary bioethical approaches. The same normative moral theory may be used to generate different bioethical accounts, whereas different moral theories can be used to produce the same bioethical account. For example, David Friedman and Peter Singer are both committed to the utilitarian theory, but they have developed quite different bioethical accounts. Friedman supports a free market distribution of health care (1991), while Singer argues for an entirely state-controlled health care system (1976). Both Robert Veatch and Norman Daniels use contractarianism to build their bioethical approaches, but Daniels requires justice to be realized as the first moral priority in society (1985), while Veatch holds that the requirement of justice is only one of a set of equally binding moral principles that are often in competition (1981). Finally, although Tom Beauchamp is a utilitarian and James Childress a deontologist, they have come to the same set of bioethical principles and together argue for the same moral solutions to varieties of bioethical issues (1994).