Bioethics beyond methodologism: a response to Hofmann
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Using Visual and Narrative Methods to Achieve Fair Process in Clinical Care
Published on: February 16, 2011
Carlos Gomez-Virseda1,2, Lara Andreoli3, Roshni Jegan3
1Department of Public Health & Primary Care, Centre for Biomedical Ethics and Law, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. carlos.gomezvirseda@kuleuven.be.
Abstract:
This response letter addresses Bjørn Hofmann's critique of our article, "Is Bioethics a Discipline? Beyond Methodological Reductionism." We clarify that our disagreement does not concern the value of methodological reflection, but rather the explanatory priority assigned to methodology in determining the disciplinarity of bioethics. We argue that methodological explicitness is an important component of disciplinary maturation, but that disciplines emerge through the interaction of multiple epistemic, conceptual, methodological, and institutional dimensions.
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