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Specified principlism: what is it, and does it really resolve cases better than casuistry?
1Department of Human Values and Ethics, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee, Memphis 38163, USA. cstrong@utmem.edu
The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy
|June 14, 2000
Summary
Specified principlism, a bioethics approach, fails to resolve complex clinical cases. This method does not offer practical guidance for ethical decision-making in healthcare settings.
Area of Science:
- Bioethics
- Clinical Ethics
- Moral Philosophy
Background:
- Principlism is a common bioethical framework for addressing complex moral issues.
- A key criticism of principlism is its inability to prioritize conflicting ethical principles.
- Specified principlism emerged as a proposed solution to address this prioritization deficit.
Observation:
- The practical application of specified principlism in resolving detailed clinical cases has not been demonstrated by its proponents.
- This paper evaluates the efficacy of specified principlism when applied to concrete ethical dilemmas.
- The study examines the arguments comparing specified principlism to casuistry.
Findings:
- Specified principlism does not provide actionable guidance for resolving real-world clinical ethical conflicts.
- The method proves inadequate in offering practical assistance for decision-making in complex patient care scenarios.
- Arguments defending specified principlism over casuistry are found to be flawed upon closer examination.
Implications:
- Specified principlism should not be considered a primary method for justifiable clinical decision-making.
- The limitations of specified principlism highlight the ongoing need for effective bioethical frameworks.
- Further research is required to develop and validate robust methods for ethical deliberation in healthcare.
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