Empirical, Socratic Bioethics

Abstract

Good bioethics must be empirical in the sense that it engages with actual ethical issues and does so in a way that reflects their nuances. It must also be Socratic in the sense that it develops a moral argument. Armchair ethics is unlikely to have the content and nuance that is required for good bioethics. Without a degree of conceptual sophistication, bioethics is unlikely to make progress with practical normative issues. The two classes of argument in bioethics are ‘making distinctions’ and ‘speculative reason’, which we might also view as Socratic reason. The complexity of the moral issues addressed by bioethics means that it should be conducted with a degree of ‘epistemic humility’ because what we argue about is usually contingent upon a complex set of facts, and these can change quickly.