Foundations of bioethics

Authors

  • Alfonso Gómez-Lobo Georgetown University/Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Abstract

After pointing out that Bioethics is just applied ethics, the article describes three bioethics fundamentals: utilitarianism, of principles and the basic good, examining their main postulates and revealing their apparent limitations. The article concludes that it is not possible to do bioethics in a reflexive form without a critical knowledge of options in moral philosophy and in ontology, and from which the main current disagreement with the application of ethics to the domain of human life are derived.

Keywords:

bioethics, utilitarianism, principalism

Author Biography

Alfonso Gómez-Lobo, Georgetown University/Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Georgetown University/Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Miembro del Consejo Presidencial de Bioética de los EEUU.