Re-Reasoning Ethics - The Rationality of Deliberation and Judgment in Ethics

How developing a more expansive, non-formal conception of reason produces richer ethical understandings of human situations, explored and illustrated with many real examples. In Hoffmaster and Hooker demonstrate how this more expansive rationality operates with examples, first in science and then in ethics. Non-formal reason brings rationality not just to the empirical world of science but also to the empirical realities of human lives. Among the many real cases they present is that of how women at risk of having children with genetic conditions decide whether to try to become pregnant. These women do not apply the formal principle of maximizing expected utility (as advised by genetic counselors) and instead imagine scenarios of what their lives could be like with an affected child and assess whether they could accept the worst of these scenarios. Hoffmaster and Hooker explain how moral compromise and a liberated, extended, and enriched reflective equilibrium expand and augment rational ethical deliberation and how that deliberation can rationally design ethical practices, institutions, and policies.

About the author

Barry Hoffmaster, a bioethicist, is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario.Cliff Hooker, a philosopher of science, is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Product details

• Authors: Barry Hoffmaster, Hoffmaster Barry, Cliff Hooker, Hooker Cliff
• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 18
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.10.2023
• EAN: 9780262549752
• ISBN: 978-0-262-54975-2
• No. of pages: 320
• Series: Basic Bioethics
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; MEDICAL / Ethics, PHILOSOPHY / Ethics & Moral Philosophy, SCIENCE / Ethics, Ethics & moral philosophy, Ethics and moral philosophy, Ethical issues & debates, Ethical issues and debates