{"title":"Principlism language in contemporary Chinese bioethics: dissonance and discordance.","authors":"Rui Deng, Ruiping Fan","doi":"10.1007/s11017-025-09704-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11017-025-09704-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The language of principlism seems to have emerged as the predominant guiding framework in teaching, research and even legislation within contemporary Chinese bioethics. This essay reveals the dissonance between the individualistic orientation of this theoretical language and the familist features of Chinese clinical practice by considering the principle of respect for autonomy and its discordance with the Confucian tradition of virtue ethics and medical rituals. Several representative clinical cases in mainland China are presented to illustrate the incongruity between the current state of Confucian medical rituals and the language game of the principle of respect for autonomy. While there is a recognized need in contemporary Chinese medical practice to promote patient involvement in decision-making in the cases of terminal illness, we argue that this approach should be implemented in alignment with Confucian virtue ethics and medical rituals. Resolving the linguistic discordance between Chinese bioethics and principlism should not entail a shift towards principlism.</p>","PeriodicalId":94251,"journal":{"name":"Theoretical medicine and bioethics","volume":" ","pages":"89-102"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143506735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"den Hartogh, Govert. What Kind of Death: The Ethics of Determining One's Own Death. New York/London: Routledge, 2023. 402 pp. USD $ 128.00 (hardcover); USD $ 43.99 (paper); USD $ 43.99 (Ebook). ISBN 978-1-032-24796-0.","authors":"William G Hoy","doi":"10.1007/s11017-024-09694-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-024-09694-y","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94251,"journal":{"name":"Theoretical medicine and bioethics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142815440","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Biting the bullet on ethical veganism, antinatalism, and the demands of morality.","authors":"Joona Räsänen","doi":"10.1007/s11017-024-09687-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11017-024-09687-x","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94251,"journal":{"name":"Theoretical medicine and bioethics","volume":" ","pages":"495-498"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142335625","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Niñoval F Pacaol, Kielle Vincent J Delima, Jhon Russel B Ventura, Julius Lawrence J Curbilla, Rohn Fredrick P Casas, Bernel G Moquia, Samantha Mae N Mendoza, Mark Francis E Habagat, Ai Mei Niña G Cabillan, Frenz Alrie P Terio
{"title":"On instrumentality and second-order effects: revisiting anti-natalism and animal farming.","authors":"Niñoval F Pacaol, Kielle Vincent J Delima, Jhon Russel B Ventura, Julius Lawrence J Curbilla, Rohn Fredrick P Casas, Bernel G Moquia, Samantha Mae N Mendoza, Mark Francis E Habagat, Ai Mei Niña G Cabillan, Frenz Alrie P Terio","doi":"10.1007/s11017-024-09690-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11017-024-09690-2","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94251,"journal":{"name":"Theoretical medicine and bioethics","volume":" ","pages":"499-502"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142484792","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Antinatalism and the vegan's dilemma.","authors":"James Schultz","doi":"10.1007/s11017-024-09683-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11017-024-09683-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94251,"journal":{"name":"Theoretical medicine and bioethics","volume":" ","pages":"493-494"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142305339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reaffirming the irrationality of human confidence that an ageless existence would be better: A reply to García-Barranquero and Llorca Albareda.","authors":"Susan B Levin","doi":"10.1007/s11017-024-09688-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11017-024-09688-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94251,"journal":{"name":"Theoretical medicine and bioethics","volume":" ","pages":"487-492"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142669823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Epicureanism and euthanasia.","authors":"Jeremy W Skrzypek","doi":"10.1007/s11017-024-09684-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11017-024-09684-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>If Epicurean arguments for the harmlessness of death are successful, then they also successfully undermine a common justification for physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, and the termination of hopeless pregnancies that I call the 'Mercy Intuition', according to which, by ending the life of a suffering loved one for whom there is little to no chance of recovery, one is relieving that person of her suffering, and thus providing a great benefit to her. For, if death is not a harm to the person who dies, then it cannot be a benefit to her either, even in cases of intense and prolonged suffering. Along these lines, in this paper, I defend the claim that death cannot provide a benefit to those who are suffering. I begin by highlighting the Epicurean foundations of the argument, focusing on three main Epicurean arguments for the harmlessness of death and their no-benefit analogues. I then move on to explore several important limitations of the argument, which make available a number of strategies for avoiding its conclusion. Along the way, I respond to each of these avoidance strategies. I conclude that even granting several of its limitations, the argument still poses a serious challenge to the Mercy Intuition.</p>","PeriodicalId":94251,"journal":{"name":"Theoretical medicine and bioethics","volume":" ","pages":"433-446"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11602868/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142305340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The ethical inadequacy of uninformed surrogate consent: advancing respect for persons in clinical research.","authors":"Robert R Harrison","doi":"10.1007/s11017-024-09693-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11017-024-09693-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In clinical research, decision-making capacity is often equated with unspecified conceptions of autonomy, and autonomy is often equated with personhood. On this view, the loss of decision-making capacity is seen as a loss of autonomy, and the loss of autonomy subsumes a loss of personhood. An ethical concern arises at the intersection of those philosophical considerations with the legal considerations in informed consent. Because persons with inadequate decision-making capacity cannot provide legally effective consent, enrollment in research can occur only if a surrogate gives permission on the person's behalf. Federal regulations and resulting institutional policies allow permission from surrogates empowered under state law to consent to medical treatment procedures, typically in a hierarchy of legislatively prioritized relationships lacking regard for what the surrogate actually knows about the current research-related values and preferences of the potential subject. As a result, the research enterprise often countenances reliance on surrogates who have no relational or informational basis for an enrollment decision that aligns with the values and preferences of the subject. Arguing from the perspective that losing decision-making capacity does not alter the moral status of persons, and that respect for persons rather than respect for autonomy is the central ethical obligation, I assess the ethical implications of allowing persons with no knowledge of the values and preferences of the potential subject to make enrollment decisions, concluding that reliance on uninformed surrogates is not an ethically defensible approach to enrolling subjects in clinical research.</p>","PeriodicalId":94251,"journal":{"name":"Theoretical medicine and bioethics","volume":" ","pages":"461-479"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142635644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Deckers, Jan. Fundamentals of Critical Thinking in Health Care Ethics and Law. Ghent, Belgium: Owl Press, 2023. 263 pp. $24.54(paperback). ISBN 978-9072201591.","authors":"Monica Consolandi","doi":"10.1007/s11017-024-09696-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-024-09696-w","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94251,"journal":{"name":"Theoretical medicine and bioethics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142741814","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xavier Symons, John Rhee, Anthony Tanous, Tracy Balboni, Tyler J VanderWeele
{"title":"Correction: Flourishing at the end of life.","authors":"Xavier Symons, John Rhee, Anthony Tanous, Tracy Balboni, Tyler J VanderWeele","doi":"10.1007/s11017-024-09691-1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-024-09691-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":94251,"journal":{"name":"Theoretical medicine and bioethics","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142484791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}