Suchergebnisse

This book offers a comprehensive approach to moral experience. It respects the many dimensions of our moral life which elude the traditional philosophical theories that deal exclusively with principles, consequences, virtues, or some other single dimension. Working from a critique of such traditions, the book shows how to integrate their values in a dynamic coherence. Thus, it is not just another ethical theory, but a new level of philosophizing in ethics which rewards the reader with an enlarged and enriched vision of our complexity as moral beings

Americans are committed by Constitutional ideals to political equality. On the other hand, our economic ideals are libertarian and permit inequalities. Court decisions and federal legislation in the 1950's and '60's created a strong commitment to the practical realization of political and social equality. Yet we have come to see in the 1970's that economic inequalities make this achievement very difficult. The pressures for economic equality are relatively recent, because both poor and rich in Amerjca have in the past assumed the plight of the poor can be relieved most quickly through increases in total production rather than through a change in the distribution of what is produced. The prospect of limited economic growth in the future, or even no growth, dramatically shifts the pressures for economic improvement of the poor away from increased production toward greater equality in distribution.

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) upholds policies prohibiting practices that deliberately hasten death. We find these policies overly restrictive and unreasonable. We argue that under specified circumstances it is both reasonable and morally sound to allow for treatments that may deliberately hasten death; these treatments should be part of the NHPCO guidelines. Broadening such policies would be more consistent with the gold standard of bioethical principles, ie, respecting the autonomy of competent adults.