1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910686494003321

Autore

Napier Stephen E.

Titolo

Uncertain bioethics : human dignity and moral risk / / Stephen Napier

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, New York ; ; London : , : Routledge, , 2019

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (286 pages)

Collana

Routledge annals of bioethics ; ; 19

Disciplina

174.2

Soggetti

Bioethics

Dignity

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Part I. Foundational Matters: The Perception of Value, Persons, and Human Worth -- Chapter 2. Moral Inquiry and the Apprehension of Value -- Chapter 3. Epistemic Justification, Peer Disagreement, and Practical Interest -- Chapter 4. Persons and Human Beings -- Chapter 5. Human Dignity -- Part II. Dignity as the Beginning and End of Life -- Chapter 6. Abortion -- Chapter 7. Human Embryonic Destructive Stem Cell Research -- Chapter 8. Euthanasia -- Part III. Balancing Dignity and Autonomy -- Chapter 9. Decision-Making for Patients with Suppressed Consciousness -- Chapter 10. Decision-Making for Patients with Apparent Competency -- Chapter 11. Risky Research on Competent Adults: Justice and Autonomy -- Chapter 12: Conclusion.

Sommario/riassunto

Bioethics is a field of inquiry and as such is fundamentally an epistemic discipline. Knowing how we make moral judgments can bring into relief why certain arguments on various bioethical issues appear plausible to one side and obviously false to the other. Uncertain Bioethics makes a significant and distinctive contribution to the bioethics literature by culling the insights from contemporary moral psychology to highlight the epistemic pitfalls and distorting influences on our apprehension of value. Stephen Napier also incorporates research from epistemology addressing pragmatic encroachment and the significance of peer disagreement to justify what he refers to as epistemic diffidence when one is considering harming or killing human beings. Napier extends



these developments to the traditional bioethical notion of dignity and argues that beliefs subject to epistemic diffidence should not be acted upon. He proceeds to apply this framework to traditional and developing issues in bioethics including abortion, stem cell research, euthanasia, decision-making for patients in a minimally conscious state, and risky research on competent human subjects.