Tadeusz BiesagaCorresponding author

Personalism versus Principlism in Bioethics

Article
8 - 2003, pages 23-34
Date of online publication: 22 septembre 2016
Date of publication: 30 novembre 2003

Abstract

The bioethics of four principles, named as principlism, began in 1979 with the work of Principles of Biomedical Ethics by Tom Beauchamp and James F. Childress and has been widely criticized since the 80s. In recent years four rival approaches towards principlism have been specified in this critique. These include: a) impartial rule theory, developed by K. Danner Clouser; b) casuistry, represented by Albert Jensen, and c) virtue ethics, developed by Edmund D. Pellegrino. The critique of principlism presented by K . Danner Clouser, Bernard Gert (1990) was not only defended by T. Beauchamp and J.F. Childress themselves (1994), but also by others, including B. Andrew Lustig (1992), David DeGrazia (1992), and Henry Richardson (1990,2000).  The discussion has not weakened but continued till the present time. It was presented extensively in the June issue of The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy (June 2000). We want to join the discussion from the position of personalistic bioethics.

Cite this article

Biesaga, Tadeusz. “Personalism versus Principlism in Bioethics.” Forum Philosophicum 8 (2004): 23–34. doi:10.35765/forphil.2003.0801.3.