How to Find Your Footing in Bioethics

Abstract

The early years of bioethics were preoccupied with the search for a theoretical foundation. That tendency has decreased somewhat but the conflation of moral theory with method in ethics continues to be an obstacle for those starting out in bioethics and obscures what is common to all approaches to bioethics. Moral theory is not as useful for ‘doing ethics’ as it first appears and it is much more helpful to direct effort into teaching people how to argue about ethics. By grasping a few basic skills in argument, newcomers to this area can draw upon their knowledge and expertise and do good bioethics without mastery of normative moral theory.