Re-enchanting Medical Ethics
William E. Stempsey, SJ, M.D., PhD., Professor of Philosophy, College of the Holy Cross, Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts Medical School
It is not only medicine but also medical ethics that has become disenchanted. Out of the disenchantment in this field has erupted a recent battle in the wars of religion, although it is still bloodless as far as I know. Timothy Murphy’s defense of “irreligious bioethics” (American Journal of Bioethics 2012;12:3-10) calls for the exclusion of religion from the scholarship of the field. Religiously motivated people are not excluded, but they should check their faith at the door before entering the fray and bring in only reason emptied of all traces of religion.
Although I might hope to bring some peace with this contribution, I realize that it is unlikely to end the battle, for I argue that the role of religion in matters of bioethics is ineliminable. The olive branch I offer is to use philosophical reasoning to make explicit how bioethics and religion have been understood in this context and how unstated premises and inadequate conceptualizations have formed the arguments in such a way that battle was inevitable. Many of the battle lines have been drawn by understanding religion in a way it should not be understood. Other battle lines have been drawn by a failure to explicitly articulate how we should understand bioethics. I am interested mainly in medical ethics, concerned with matters of health care, but my argument should also be applicable to bioethics taken in the broader sense to include such things as concern for the environment.
We begin by looking at the recent battleground in bioethics. Then, we turn our attention to how different understandings bioethics as a field, its origins, purpose, scope, and methods, have set the battle scene. We then examine the notion of religion, looking especially at its importance for medical ethics. A key point in the argument is that religion is more than a code of ethics. Religion gives vital insight into a general world view that is essential and foundational for the most important matters of medical ethics—the meaning of life, death and suffering. Finally, we will see how these issues are played out in the realm of public discourse.
It is not only medicine but also medical ethics that has become disenchanted. Out of the disenchantment in this field has erupted a recent battle in the wars of religion, although it is still bloodless as far as I know. Timothy Murphy’s defense of “irreligious bioethics” (American Journal of Bioethics 2012;12:3-10) calls for the exclusion of religion from the scholarship of the field. Religiously motivated people are not excluded, but they should check their faith at the door before entering the fray and bring in only reason emptied of all traces of religion.
Although I might hope to bring some peace with this contribution, I realize that it is unlikely to end the battle, for I argue that the role of religion in matters of bioethics is ineliminable. The olive branch I offer is to use philosophical reasoning to make explicit how bioethics and religion have been understood in this context and how unstated premises and inadequate conceptualizations have formed the arguments in such a way that battle was inevitable. Many of the battle lines have been drawn by understanding religion in a way it should not be understood. Other battle lines have been drawn by a failure to explicitly articulate how we should understand bioethics. I am interested mainly in medical ethics, concerned with matters of health care, but my argument should also be applicable to bioethics taken in the broader sense to include such things as concern for the environment.
We begin by looking at the recent battleground in bioethics. Then, we turn our attention to how different understandings bioethics as a field, its origins, purpose, scope, and methods, have set the battle scene. We then examine the notion of religion, looking especially at its importance for medical ethics. A key point in the argument is that religion is more than a code of ethics. Religion gives vital insight into a general world view that is essential and foundational for the most important matters of medical ethics—the meaning of life, death and suffering. Finally, we will see how these issues are played out in the realm of public discourse.