How experience confronts ethics

Area of Science:

• Bioethics
• Moral Philosophy
• Philosophy of Science

Background:

• Analytic moral philosophy creates a divide between empirical facts and normative principles.
• This limits empirical research to merely applying norms, preventing it from challenging them.
• Contemporary bioethics largely follows this analytic tradition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To advocate for a significant shift in bioethics methodology.
• To integrate empirical research beyond descriptive ethics.
• To challenge the dominant analytic moral philosophy in bioethics.

Main Methods:

• Critique of the prevailing "method of application" in bioethics and science.
• Analysis of the underlying conception of rationality.
• Introduction of naturalist and constructivist accounts of reason and normative knowledge.

Main Results:

• The dominant analytic approach restricts the role of empirical facts.
• A naturalist approach liberates empirical work to contribute to normative knowledge.
• An enlarged conception of rationality is necessary for this integration.

Conclusions:

• Bioethics requires a break from analytic moral philosophy to truly incorporate empirical research.
• Empirical work is essential and can actively contribute to normative knowledge in bioethics.
• Naturalist and constructivist perspectives offer more productive frameworks for bioethics.