‘Good’ Bioethics

Abstract

‘Good bioethics’ draws upon a range of approaches and does not privilege one theoretical or disciplinary perspective. It also aims at being ‘practical normative’ in the sense that it helps us find a way forward with moral issues. That requires a degree of empirical engagement and implies that good bioethics draws upon a range of disciplines and cannot be done from an armchair. Good bioethics is always typified by sound moral reason. That means it is Socratic in the sense that it seeks to test via argument the strength of moral claims, with the aim of finding well-justified moral conclusions. Moral reason admits of degrees; it is possible for someone to reason well or poorly, and the extent to which an instance of bioethics does either, contributes value or disvalue to it as bioethics.