Abstract
The term “principlism” designates an approach to biomedical ethics that uses a framework of four universal and basic ethical principles: respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, and justice. It is presented and defended in Beauchamp and Childress’ Principles of Biomedical Ethics. The basic principles state prima facie (or non-absolute) moral obligations that are rendered practical by being specified for particular contexts. Moral problems arise when principles or their specifications come into conflict with each other. The conflicts are resolved by further specification or balancing judgments. Principlism justifies moral reasoning by appealing to the method of reflective equilibrium and to the common morality. Principlism is committed to a global bioethics because the principles are universally applicable, not merely local, customary, or cultural rules. They are correlative to basic human rights and set limits to what is ethically acceptable in all societies, but they are also sensitive to particular conditions in societies and cultures that may account for legitimate differences in the ethics of medical research and practice.
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Further Readings
Beauchamp, T. L. (2010). Standing on principles: collected essays. New York: Oxford University Press.
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2013). Principles of biomedical ethics (7th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Gillon, R. (2003). Ethics needs principles – Four can encompass the rest–and respect for autonomy should be ‘first among equals’. Journal of Medical Ethics, 29, 307–312.
Rauprich, O. (2008). Common morality: Comment on Beauchamp and Childress. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 29, 43–71.
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Beauchamp, T.L., Rauprich, O. (2016). Principlism. In: ten Have, H. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Bioethics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09483-0_348
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09483-0_348
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