The Fact/Value Spectre

Abstract

The fact/value distinction has cast a shadow over bioethics and if taken in a naïve sense it has damaging implications for method in bioethics. Some still believe that all values are on a par epistemically and that leads to absurdity when we consider the status of some scientific values. It can be taken to imply positivism, meaning that unless ethics is conducted empirically it will be meaningless or subjective. It can also be taken to imply that all values are on an equal footing and I will show how that cannot be true and leads to an impoverished conception of what it is to do ethics well.