Ethics: past, present and future perspectives

The authors open by making a characterization of ethics viewed as a domain of philosophy. They present traditional approaches to ethics and point out the importance of general and special ethics in contemporary philosophical discourse. A conclusion is drawn that a clear need arises to discuss the so-called “new ethics”, one which is removed from the schematic thinking on “good” and “evil.” This collection examines ethics committes in hospitals, clinics, and other medical and research medical institutions within the public and private sector, discusses the convergence of technologies and scientific disciplines and discusses Nagel’s dualism and Murphy’s monism in depth. Both of them limit their discussions to distributive justice, but they admit that their views can apply to a more general discussion of the relationship between politics and morality. (Nova)