Related Experiment Videos
A critique of principlism
1Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, Hershey 17033.
The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy
|April 1, 1990
Summary
Principlism in medical ethics uses principles instead of moral theory, but these principles are misleading and unhelpful for resolving complex ethical dilemmas. A unified moral theory offers a better approach to medical ethics.
Area of Science:
- Bioethics
- Medical Ethics
- Moral Philosophy
Background:
- Principlism is a common approach in medical ethics.
- It uses principles to guide moral decision-making in healthcare.
- This approach has been widely adopted in clinical practice and policy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To critically evaluate the practice of principlism in medical ethics.
- To demonstrate the theoretical and practical limitations of using principles.
- To advocate for the use of a unified moral theory in medical ethics.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual analysis of the term "principlism".
- Examination of the functional role of principles in ethical problem-solving.
- Comparative analysis between principlism and unified moral theories.
Main Results:
- Principles in principlism do not function as claimed guides to action.
- Principles are merely labels for disparate considerations, lacking systematic relationships.
- Unresolvable conflicts arise between principles due to their lack of a unified theoretical basis.
Conclusions:
- Principlism is a misleading and inadequate framework for medical ethics.
- The use of principles fails to provide genuine moral guidance.
- A unified moral theory offers a more robust and systematic approach to resolving ethical issues in medicine.